#written before watching 106

[screechingfromthevoid]

I think Dorian knows Orym is in love with him. I don't think it is a great unknown. He's not biting his nails wondering if Orym feels the same way as him.

I think the problem is that Dorian doesn't know how to approach it at all. For so many reasons. There are so many reasons why Dorian has been keeping all of this close to his chest.

First and foremost I think he wants to be respectful of Will and the place he holds in Orym's heart. Dorian in no way would blame Orym for never moving on. He'd be sad and disappointed but he'd understand. And he understands that he's still mourning Will. So he doesn't want to initiate something Orym isn't ready for.

Second, they're in the middle of a war. There isn't time for this. There isn't time for dead brothers and profound crushes. How could he distract Orym from the world ending? He's their little tank. He's their tactician. He's can get his hard and throw it back just as easily. They need his head clear. And I don't think Dorian would ever forgive himself if something were to happen because Orym was too preoccupied.

Third, is speculative, with the context Robbie has given us, marrying a man would not go over well in the royal family. Not because they're particularly homophobic. But, assuming they're both cis, (headcanons aside, I don't think critical role is there yet), the blood line would end. And royal families are big on lines of succession. Hence Zeru begging Dorian to come back. So I'm not sure adopting is in the realm of possibilities. How could Dorian let Orym love him? How could he give into his feelings? How could they live happily ever after when Dorian needs to go back home? Sit on a throne? Produce an heir and a spare? He couldn't possibly start something with him only for it to end in tragedy. He couldn't do that to Oym.

There are probably more reasons for all this but these are the ones that swim in my head the most. And idk I think Dorian wants to love Orym loudly and proudly but... The world is ending, ya know?

[eat-limes-bitches]

Attitude Adjustment

PAIRING: Female! Chiropractor! Reader x Avenger!Bucky Barnes

SUMMARY: Pain affects everyone. Even 106-year-old assassins

WARNINGS: Smidge of Angst, mostly Fluff. Grumpy! Bucky. Some of Bucky's negative self-image but very little. Talks of chiropractic adjustment so cracking joints but nothing too bad. Sam's a little shit. Probably poorly written but oh well.

Word Count: 1006

A/N: Hey guys! I know the last two posts have been really heart-wrenching so here is something a little light-hearted to counteract what I'm gonna be posting next. I am going to be starting chiropractic school in the fall and I know that it has really helped me with some chronic pain stuff that I have going on even with my crazy high pain tolerance so thought Bucky could use some adjustments too!

Enjoy! <3

Dividers by Rookthorne

Y/n watched Bucky from across the gym, analyzing his movements as he tried to continue his set. There was a slight dip in his step as he walked over to the weight plates and a subtle clench of his jaw as he lifted the plate onto the bar. Maybe he’s just sore, she mused as she returned to her stretches. The room around her was slowly disappearing when there was a loud bang and a shout. She jumped, eyes flying open as she shot her gaze across the room where Bucky held his ribs under his left arm while Sam laughed. 

 “What’s wrong, tin man? Age finally catching up to you?” Bucky shot a nasty glare at the man, 

“You won’t be laughing when I drown you in the creek,” Bucky growled as he took a threatening step toward Sam.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Sam placated as he took a step backward. “I was just messin’ with ya man!” Bucky just glared at him again and knocked his metallic shoulder against Sam’s as he stormed off towards the exit. Sam made eye contact with Y/n, shrugging his shoulders and motioning towards the door as if he were saying, ‘Get a load of that guy’. Y/n shook her head and made a mental note to check on him later.

Sometime later after Y/n had finished her workout, she ventured to Bucky’s room, pausing just outside the door. Steadying herself with a breath, she gently rapped on the door. There was a deep groan from the other side of the door, and before Y/n was able to make some space between her and the door, it flew open, revealing a rather disgruntled Bucky, eyes narrowing as he took in her form. 

“What.” He grunts out glare unwavering from her smaller form in the doorway. Y/n steadied herself with a reminder that he was in pain and to not let it get to her. She instead matched his gaze.

“You’re in pain.” She stated cooly observing his reaction as he shifted weight off of his left leg, rolling his eyes.

“Right, ‘cause you can tell from across a room.” He scoffed. Y/n let out an indignant huff as she looked him up and down.

“You’re favoring the left side of your body, and anyone can see that. Your hips are crooked from compensating the extra weight on the left side of your body. You have a slight limp which is throwing your body further out of alignment, and since Steve pinned you during training on Tuesday, you’ve been protecting your left ribcage which was then further aggravated from your bench pressing today.”

Bucky stared at her, eyes wide. “H-how do you know all that?” Y/n’s gaze softened as she gave him a gentle smile. 

“Buck, I’m a chiropractor, I’m trained to see these things. I can help you feel better if you’d like.” She noticed the hesitance in his eyes as he thought about her offer. 

“You know you are allowed help right?” She whispered, placing a hand on his arm. 

Bucky searched her eyes for a moment, waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to pull away and just laugh, tell him it was all a joke, and walk away but it never came, she just stood there, hand spreading warmth through his arm, smile sending butterflies straight to his stomach. Letting out a breath, he nodded, letting Y/n take his hand and lead him to her office. 

The room was bright, the afternoon sun coming in through the window painted everything in a golden glow. Y/n motioned to the table in the middle of the room.

“Here, lay face down for me.” She said gently, patting the table. Bucky did as he was told,  and melted into the comfortable cushion as Y/n danced her fingers up and down his spine. She paused at the very base of his neck moved her fingers towards his shoulder and gently pressed down. Bucky yelped slightly and jerked away from her touch. 

“I’m sorry Buck, I won’t do it again but that just confirmed my suspicion,” Y/n murmured as she walked around the table, placing the heel of her palms on his upper back.

“Yeah, and what's that?” Bucky grumbled, starting to regret his decision. 

Y/n gave a sharp thrust, and a satisfying pop rang out through the room, startling Bucky. “Your first rib was out of place.” Bucky pushed himself up to look at Y/n wide-eyed. 

“My first rib is out of place!” She just smiled.

“Was. I put it back. That's what that sound was.” 

This went on for a few more minutes. Y/n would palpate different parts of his body, there would be a pop, and Bucky make some sort of surprised noise. Eventually, Y/n made the last adjustment and helped Bucky sit up before taking a seat next to him. 

“How do you feel?” 

Bucky rolled his shoulders before stretching both of his arms above his head. His eyes widened as he snapped his head to meet Y/n’s gaze. Shock was written all over his features as he stood up and wasn’t greeted with the sharp sting that he had grown accustomed to in his lower back. 

“Wow, that-that’s amazing!” He sent a heart-stopping grin in Y/n’s direction. 

“Thank you, Y/n I feel much better.” He said sincerely, taking Y/n’s hand in his as thanked her. Y/n blushed.

“Of course Bucky. Anytime.”

The pair wandered into the main living room where everyone was gathered. Bucky gave Y/n’s hand one last squeeze before strolling over to Steve and putting him in a headlock, laughing and carrying on. Y/n smiled as she watched them when Sam wandered over.

“What did you do to him?” He asked. Y/n just smiled, not taking her eyes off of Bucky, who was now arm-wrestling Tony who was using his suit.

“Nothing really just gave him an attitude adjustment.”

[thoughtsfromlayla]

26 Ways of Taking You: F for Face Sitting

Summary: You've waited for 106 years for an apology. So an apology you shall receive.

Notes: ~1.4k words, not edited or beta read lol, we are raw doggin it

Warnings/Tags: MDNI - 18+, face sitting/queening, Sub!Dream, reincarnated reader, unexpected orgasm, strip teasing is you squint really hard, written at 4am do not come for me at grammar mistakes

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

E for Edging ⇆ G for Grinding

In the rubles of an abandoned kingdom, you have long since accepted your solitude. 106 years of solitude is something no person, mortal or not, should go through. And though, yes, you were mortal, each lifetime you have reincarnated you have always sought out Dream of the Endless as your lover.

When you came to be in your previous lifetime, you did not know that he would be captured and that you would die alone and cold in your bed. Here you are now, walking amongst the broken pillars and cracked shards of glass once more. The Dreaming is more broken since the last time you visited some decades ago. 

The once shared bed that you lay in brings little comfort to you. Its satin sheets have grown rough, the pillows flat, and even as you bundle yourself within the blanket, the familiar smell of him has faded. Soon enough, even that will be gone and you will have nothing left to remember him by.

You felt his presence before you saw him. It was like a pulse that rippled through the realm, a pulse that guaranteed the return of its king, a promise of rebirth. But, after being disappointed for so long, you stay put; waiting patiently for him within his castle walls. If Dream really has returned, then a few more minutes won’t change anything.

Melancholy turns to anger as you remember the day he was captured was the same day he left you waiting at the lover’s table. The waitress had come by several times to ask if your dining partner was going to come and every hour you insisted he would. 

Dream never did show himself, for reasons unknown to you at that time, and you drown your sorrows in the sparkling champagne they offered. You didn’t bother eating dinner and left embarrassed, hiding your face from the pitied faces of the other diners around you. 

Much to your surprise, he does show himself to you. He looked tired, skinner, and almost broken. When your eyes connected, it took him a few moments to read your soul. To know who you truly are in this new reincarnation. He came to you like a moth to a flame, his relief evident on his face as he slumped into your arms. 

If only you were in a better mood.

“How dare you leave me!” You pushed him away and smacked his chest. “You embarrassed me! You forgot about me! You let me die alone!” Each statement was met with another smack to the chest. You were positively fuming, brows furrowed.

“Forgive me for missing our last date,” He muttered and slumped back into your neck. 

“You should be sorry.” You sounded mad, but you were relieved that he finally came back home. 

You hold Dream’s head in your hands, and even when the situation doesn’t call for it, the way he looked at you with a downturn lip and pleading eyes sends signals straight to your cunt. It has been several years since you’ve last laid with him. 

“You should make it up for me, then I’ll accept your apology,” You stated with a smug look on your face. 

Dream only nodded as he let you lead you to the bed. You push him back until he is watching you on his elbows. After you back away from the bed did you begin to shimmy yourself out of your clothes. Morpheus watches intently as your fingers ghost across your waist, giving him a glimpse of your stomach. 

He swallowed as you discarded your top, the bralette does little to hide your figure. Your hands move down your curves and his eyes follow when your fingers trace the top of your pants. You walked to him and he sat up slowly, looking up at you with a plea. 

“Do you deserve this?” You asked as his hands cover yours over the rim of your pants. His finger traced across your knuckles as he memorized your body once again. 

Morpheus only nodded and with a satisfied smile you guided his hands to the button that keeps you from him. His fingers are cold against your skin, the gentle carasses tickling the sensitive skin the further he goes. The button pops open easily as his dexterous fingers opens the seams of your jeans 

You allowed him to be impatient, to take your underwear off with your pants. When you’re bare to him in nothing but your bralette, you push him down once more. 

With a slow and deliberate motion, you crawl over him, resting yourself high on his chest. Dream’s hands roam across the softness of your thighs, running his fingers down the expense of your legs. You stay there a moment, basking in his presence and the way his chest rises and falls with his vitality. 

“Please,” He begged, wetting his dry lips with his tongue. Your eyes dilate as you watch the wet muscle cross over his lips.

Your wetness was seeping through the fabric of his shirt and he was, quite literally, starved. Starved for food perhaps not, but for you and your taste alone? Yes. 

“Okay,” You whispered. “Lay down for me, my love.” You guided him again with a gentle hand. 

He does as he is told and waits like a good boy as you settle yourself above him. You feel the heat of his breath on your most sensitive areas and when you look down at him you see him already staring at you.

Morpheus licks his lips again and when you still don’t sit down on him, his impatience gets the better of him. He turns his head and sinks his teeth into the plushness of your thigh. Your hands shoot for the headboard to steady yourself as he sucks a blooming hickey where his lips part. 

He’s staring at you again, his eyebrows furrowed as you have yet to sit down on him. Dream’s hands keep your hips in place as he goes to your thighs once more, dragging his tongue in a long line until his head is almost off the bed. 

“Holy shit,” You gasped as the wetness of his tongue grazed over your pussy lips. Your breath grows uneven as heat pools between your thighs. 

“You are trembling,” He hummed in content, nosing your other thigh for attention. His cock was tented and growing uncomfortable in his pants and he shifts to gain any traction for himself.

“Oh, shut up,” You groaned, finally lowering yourself onto his face. 

Dream moaned as your entire being invaded his senses. In scent he adores you, in touch he connects to you, in taste he worships you, in sight he ravishes you, and in sound he hears the whispers of his name like a prayer falling from your lips. 

Morpheus’ tongue shoots out, licking the length of you. He circle’s your clit slowly and your hips jerk in place as his hands keep you steady. Your other hands run through the strands of his unruly hair and you grab at the base, steering him to where you need him most. 

Dream lets you take control, he will have his time, but for now it’s about apologizing. He tastes you deeply, pushing his tongue into your weeping cunt. The Endless’ eyes rolling to the back of his head as he feels you tighten around his tongue and your nails dig into his scalp. 

You’re a whimpering mess above him, grinding your hips down and in a corner of your mind, you’re glad to have an immortal lover. If not, you fear you might have broken his neck. 

But there’s no room for thoughts like that. Not when he’s back at your clit again, using the flat of his tongue to pleasure your bundle of nerves. He gulps down your arousal, tasting you in the back of his throat like honey.

His nails raked along the length of your legs, leaving rising claw-like marks on the soft skin. Dream does his best to taste you, all of you, but some of your arousal drips down the sides of his chin. He groans as his nose bumps against your clit and you jump at the sensation.

Your thighs tremble, your fingers tingle and your moans grow higher in pitch as your orgasm comes to you unexpectedly. You see the stars of the Dreaming dance across your eyelids and Morpheus helps you ride out your orgasm, his name singing from your lips. 

When you’re done and nothing but a panting mess and a slump of flesh and bone does his stop. His hands are still on you, rubbing the indent on your hips in soothing circles. 

“Forgiven?” He asks, looking at you with the rare smile that could make flowers bloom. 

“Forgiven,” You sigh happily.

E for Edging ⇆ G for Grinding

Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist

Here you go you thirsty people

♡ Yours, Layla6

[atimeofyourlife]

It's a boy!

written for @steddiemicrofic prompt: cake wc: 311 | rated: t | cw: none | tags: trans Steve Harrington this sat at 205 words for most of the month, finding that extra 106 was so hard!

After his first attempt at baking had nearly destroyed the trailer’s kitchen, Eddie had roped in Robin for help. Who in turn called in Dustin, who had then insisted that his mom would be the best person to help out.

So the three of them were crowded into the Henderson’s kitchen, with Claudia teaching them how to bake a cake. All she’d needed to hear was “It’s for Steve,” before she was agreeing to anything they asked.

As he watched Claudia work her magic, he found it harder and harder to understand how, exactly, he’d managed to mess up a basic box mix so badly, when she made it look so easy.

Eddie came up with the idea when Steve had told them that he was, well, Steve. Eddie wanted to celebrate Steve feeling comfortable and brave enough to tell them that he wasn’t the girl they thought they knew. Especially as everyone knew his parents weren’t the type to celebrate Steve the way he deserved.

Once the cake was finished and decorated, Eddie jumped into action to get everyone over, to surprise Steve. All the kids, Nancy and Jonathan, Hopper and Mrs Byers, even Sue and Charles Sinclair. Everyone who loved Steve crowding into the Henderson's living room, waiting for Steve to get off work. Dustin took the task of getting Steve to come over, calling him at work and making an excuse of something he needed Steve's help with.

"What's going on?" Steve asked, confused when he walked in. When Dustin had called him, he wasn't expecting anyone else to be there.

"We just wanted to celebrate you. Surprise, baby." Eddie replied, kissing Steve softly before dragging him to the table to see the cake. "For you, sweetheart."

Steve took in the cake, then started laughing as he read the words piped on in blue icing.

‘It’s a Boy!’

[arkanis-englishupdates]

SUMMARY OF ALL ARKANIS POVS

DAY 104 & DAY 105 & DAY 106 & 107 — 16/12/2024 & 17/12/2024 & 18/12/2024 & 19/12/2024

DAY 104 — 16/12/2024

Valigma dawns still with the melancholy of the last few days.

While everyone slept, Quel began to rebuild Valigma's destroyed buildings, managing to repair part of the city.

Matt meets with Guaxinim and tells him about Bagi's death. Guaxinim is devastated by the news.

Himaru receives a visit from Samir, who tells him that the two have a strong connection. Samir then hands a book with coordinates to Himaru. The coordinates lead to a mysterious location, where Samir was waiting for Himaru.

They talk about the city, Himaru's friends (the specialists) and the "Passage". The two talk a little more before Samir asks Himaru to burn him so his essence becomes part of Himaru and he can rebuild the rest of the city.

The two hug goodbye before Himaru does as Samir asked, pouring lava into a hole where Samir placed himself.

Moonkase wakes up in a new outfit, completely depressed by what happened to Bagi.

Secret Santa begins with Choke giving JVNQ his gift. She gives him a little letter telling him how important he is to her (Choke considers him her best friend) and gives him a robotic left arm for him.

JVNQ loved the gift but says he can't use it because he actually lost his right arm, not his left. JVNQ is moved when he reads the letter written by Choke.

Denix took Gabepeixe in Secret Santa and the little ghost gives his father a large painting of the two made by Denix himself.

All specialists meet at Bira's Bar to talk. Between conversations and laughter, they watch funny videos while waiting for the event to start.

Meanwhile, FunBABE is teleported by Araldo so the two can talk about the final battle. Araldo tells her to discard the mask she is wearing (the one with the same design as Jota's mask) and use a mask like his.

Before they finish their conversation, Araldo gives FunBABE a Lankya do Fim/Lankya of the End.

As soon as FunBABE returned to Bira's Bar, all the specialists start to go over what happened on Friday (Apparently they managed to seal CHAOS in the Nether).

And then the event begins!

The specialists receive a book with coordinates to an important location for Araldo. They will attack and destroy this place. At these coordinates they see an immense sphere in the sky made with what appears to be Éssys or some mysterious magical material, numerous Araldo robots are there and soon attack the group.

Once they defeat the robots, JVNQ tells everyone to go up and storm the sphere. As soon as they manage to climb and enter, the specialists use several atomic bombs to blow up the place.

The mission is a success and everyone returns to Bira's Bar, finding Bia Raux there. She says she met Hugo and confirms that he is from somewhere else (she probably met Hugo from another timeline/reality, the one who already worked with Araldo).

Bia also tells them about the story she tells about the "Passage" being simply death. JVNQ then talks about her theory about having two Bia Raux in Valigma (As well as two Hugo and two Jota) and asks if she remembers the conversation she had with Gabepeixe on the day CAOS appeared. Bia says she doesn't remember the conversation and the reason is she was probably having a lot of Arkanya flowing into her body and when she's like that, she can't remember many things.

Guhzera meets with Choke, Malena and Gris to talk and he talks about his relationship with Araldo and the day he allied with him. Choke and Malena respond to Guhzera that his story has some holes.

Later, Moonkase reports seeing a Bia Raux running after another Bia Raux.

(The theory is that the fully transformed Bia Raux is the Bia Raux from the sealed Araldo/Jota timeline, who came to that timeline to stop Araldo. Bia Raux from the normal timeline is the one who spends 95% of her time in her normal look.)

DAY 105 — 17/12/2024

It's the day of the final battle against Araldo.

While Matt and Amora were exploring a forest, Bagi's voice appears, scaring them both. (Bagi and Matt are still fused but Bagi appears to have lost all of her memories just as Chaos told her he would, becoming a "blank page"). Fortunately Bagi seems to remember basic actions like eating, talking and sleeping, but she doesn't remember anything else.

Amora runs away scared from Bagatt as soon as she hears Bagi's voice.

Matt hurriedly ran to where everyone was, shouting the emergency word ("Pepino!/Cucumber!") over the walkie-talkie.

Meanwhile, all the specialists meet again at Bira's Bar.

Upon arriving at the location, Matt scares Gabepeixe, Guaxinim and JVNQ by revealing about Bagi, who has no memories. Despite this, JVNQ welcomes her.

After the rest of the specialists reconvene at Bira's Bar, JVNQ tells some of them about the discovery they made about Bagi still being alive, but with no memory of who she once was.

Moonkase then arrives at Bira's Bar to talk to the specialists and notices Bagi's eyes open on the back of Matt's head. She can't get close to Bagatt and decides to go out to think with Amora.

Malena then goes to her sister and tells her what she knows about Bagi, which Moonkase doesn't take well and runs away in a panic attack.

Suddenly, all the specialists receive a book with coordinates to an unknown location. Upon arriving at the coordinates, they come across an Araldo factory. The group then begins to fight against Araldo's robots that appeared at the location..

After defeating the robots, the group finds an End Portal and does what a book asks, managing to open the portal.

As soon as the specialists go through the portal, they find a giant fully robotic dragon flying but luckily Gabepeixe easily defeats it using his Obstinate. Unfortunately, more of Araldo's robots appear.

Once they defeat the robots, a message from Hugo ("Destroy everything!") appears to the group and they do exactly as Hugo asks, using atomic bombs to blow up the entire place.

The mission is a success and everyone returns to the City Hall entrance to talk. A vision is shown to all the specialists, where Jota and Bia talk about Jota being ready for what would happen and Bia comforts him, saying that he is not to blame for what happened.

While the specialists rest, Malena tells Moonkase that she got a Lankya that basically "explodes things" and that Moonkase shouldn't tell anyone about it.

Suddenly the sky turned completely pink and a vision was shown to all the specialists:

The vision shows Araldo, Leonardo and FunBABE arguing with Bia and Jota, which results in Araldo using his powers to kill Jota.

Once the vision ends, the final battle begins:

The specialists fight with Bia against Araldo and FunBABE. During the chaos of the tough battle, Bia uses her powers to leave all the ghosts completely pumped, letting them punch Araldo with as much force as they had until Araldo falls to the ground.

Soon all the specialists joined the ghosts to beat Araldo. Another vision begins, showing all the brothers (Marília's children) joining Bia Raux to put an end to Araldo, resulting in a gigantic explosion, making him finally weak enough to not fight back (also because they managed to break most of Araldo's mask).

Bia Raux then summons a great sword and speaks to Araldo one last time, not letting him say anything else before decapitating him using the sword (The last sentence Araldo says is a warning to them "not to mess with Arka--").

At the end of the battle, Choke returns to her human form, the ghosts return to their small forms and the specialists decide to rest on the ground, looking at the sky while the adrenaline wears off.

FunBABE was also freed from Araldo's control, regaining her humanity (Malena is still suspicious about the veracity of what happened).

Moonkase manages to say "Hi" to Bagi, who is now just a "blank slate". FunBABE (along with NickLink) try to convince Moknkase to try to conquer Bagi again, but she refuses, saying she doesn't want to take the risk of falling in love again with this "new person" that is Bagi now, only for Bagi to not like her back..

Unfortunately, during the battle, Valigma was once again destroyed, with even Bira's Bar being partially destroyed.

DAY 106 & DAY 107— 18/12/2024 & 19/12/2024

From what I, Admin 🦇, researched, nothing very relevant happened these days, being quiet days as the schedule said. If I'm wrong, please tell me in the comments!

[Remembering that this is just a general summary and some events may have been missed or wrong. If something is like this, please let us know in the comments]

[comfortlesshurt]

alrighty, I locked in for a couple days and now I get to reward myself by yelling into the tumblr void about the series progress

first off, there are TWO FICS over 50% done, v exciting stuff. I know they've been over 50% for a bit now, but like... let me have my motivation, okay? we are in the HARD PART of the project where it all looks overwhelming, so I'll take the wins I can

also tex fic is finished and through round 1 of editing. it still needs another major edit and i need to finish fic 1 to make sure no info conflicts between the two, but the serious work for that is done

there are a few more days left before NotNaNo, but even going in with today's word counts, focusing on fics 1 and 2 should put them pretty close to finished by the end of November unless I was super off with the word count estimate

also had a really good writing day yesterday!

ignore those date projections at the bottom because like... those assume either i write 3k every day or i write 3k twice a week and 1.2k the other 5 days, and I canNOT do that consistently. but that July 23rd date is realistic! that's me continuing to hit my average based on the past 106 days since starting this project, so there's a good chance I finish this project in a total of just over a year (in which case I will never shut up about writing 450k in a year, so watch out)

finally, fic 1 is a huge portion of that daily par number in the first row, so... unless I fall majorly away from the intended timeline, that required daily par will go down a LOT at the end of december, which will be nice. the goal is still to focus a lot on this project and only really jump over to side projects as they call to me, but it's easier to do that when your average isn't struggling to keep up with your daily par number. it simply does not feel good to be constantly working just to barely get over the par.

as far as editing, i'm starting to fear i didn't budget enough time for that in my early projections, so the timeline might be off there. those due dates listed are for the final rough draft, which doesn't get a chance to rest before immediately going into a month of editing. something just tells me now that a month isn't going to be enough to cover a content edit for each fic. it's also relying on the technical edits being done week-to-week as each chapter goes up.

also added one more tracking tool recently:

this is to look at all the projects week-to-week, and really what it's done is made it obvious that I am in fact very focused on fic 1 lmao. in my defense, that's the one that has consistently had the highest required par, so it's easy to treat it as the most important. also, up to 27-aug is rough. I started writing these fics in Word, so I didn't have day-to-day stats to go back and check. I could only find those once I switched to Reedsy, so for the record I did not write 54k between 20-aug and 27-aug. same with the tex fic--that wasn't all written in one week.

this chart still only looks at ILaD progress, so you can see where I take my break in October and it cuts down a lot... but that's excluding the 10k that went into an unrelated fic, so I don't think taking this break has actually cut down on my writing much. it's just made me have a better time with it temporarily. i took a couple days off writing completely during October but like... I didn't really enjoy that? so I don't think that's the solution I'm looking for long-term.

anyway, thanks for coming to my ted talk. i will infodump again, and probably soon since all the end of the month posts are coming up in the next week.

[linkspooky]

Bungou Stray Dogs, Chapter 106 Thoughts

Aya’s backstory is incredibly interesting, especially considering her connection to Kunikida. Kunikida is another character obsessed with perfection, both in himself and others. 

There’s even a running joke in the manga that Kunikida has the perfect woman he’s planning on marrying in the future written down in his journal. Kunikida’s determination to strive towards his ideals is his greatest strength, and his obsession with perfection his greatest downfall. His perfectionist tendencies hurt Kunikida the same way that Aya’s father comparing her to her perfect big sister and mother hurt Aya. 

Kunikida lives in pursuit of his ideals, and sometimes his efforts to save other people and act like the ideals written down in his journal succeeds. In Aya’s introductory story, Kunikida makes a heroic sacrifice when he can’t live up to his ideals and Save Aya and it works out for him. He manages to save her by putting his life on the line. However, in the next story that Kunikida is feature in, he ends up failing. 

When his ideal is broken, Kunikida is not able to keep on fighting with strength and determination. He completely breaks down in the face of the cruelty of the world. Watching a child die in front of him makes him want to give up everything. He doesn’t even want to keep trying, because it means he might fail again.

Ironically Dostoesvky kidnaps the same man Kunikida stopped during the train bombings in order to have him witness Kunikida’s idealism break. THe man tells Dostoevsky his pal won’t work, and Kunikida will save everyone that day without his spirit breaking just like he did that down... only to be proven wrong. 

Even when Kunikida gets the resolve to keep trying to save others after letting that child die, things only get worse for him from there. Kunikida only managed to save himself and Aya because his comrades were there that day and Akiko Yosana was there to heal bot him and Aya. Kunkida is separated from his comrades for the next narrative challenge, and when he has to fight alone he fails again to prove his ideals against  against Jono. 

Kunikida’s grand heroic sacrifice to try to prove the strength of his ideals to Jouno once again blows up in his face (quite literally) and he’s left even more helpless than he was before. When he ends up in a hospital bed without the use of his hands, Jono’s not impressed and his mind hasn’t changed, he’s actively mocking him. 

The manga itself seems to criticize more than support Kunikida’s idealism, especially since it crosses into zealotry several times. Like, in all three of these scenarios Kunikida was quite literally willing to die and threw himself into a near death situation by jumping on an explosion and it didn’t work out for him. Kunikida’s pursuit of his ideals is literally self destructive. It’s throwing himself on the grenade to stop the explosion. It’s a running theme in the manga as well. Akiko suffers from it in her backstory, her powers that can save people from near death are abused until the people she abuses go insane and one man to commit suicide leaving a note “You are too ‘Correct.’” 

The same way her father abused Aya by comparing her to two dead people. The same way that Nathaniel Hawthorne is heroically sacrificing himself for the name of his love Margaret Mitchell only ends up with him being brainwashed. NIkolai wanted to die for the sake of his ideal of freedom, and then decided he wanted to kill Dostoevsky to see if his friendship with him was a result of his free will or not. The pursuit of a perfect ideal of love or justice is only destructive in the end. This theme was touched upon in Kunikida’s light novel story as well. Kunikida encounters the wife of an idealist like himself turned terrorist, who dies for the sake of an ideal just like her husband. 

Which brings us back to Aya’s internal monologue, “There ain’t no way to be more perfect than dead people.” Aya is characterized as a normal person that people like Fukuchi would ignore beacuse they only see the world in the terms of their high and mighty ideals. Aya’s father ignores her own efforts to become good at martial arts and her ideals about justice because he’s too busy comparing her to the perfection of her older sister and mother. Kunikida is also a character who is ignoring who he does save because he can only look at the people he’s failed to save. 

If the message of the manga is that “Perfection=Death” then the goal should be to try to live in a world that’s not perfect instead of aspiring for perfection. However, Kunikida is not doing that currently, he’s trying to throw himself on the grenade. Which is why the connection between Aya and Kunikida is so important because Aya they both share this incredibly unhealthy expectation to be “perfect” that only hurts them in the end. 

[arthuluart]

Hiii - wanted to say first thing first I love your art style, it's so dynamic and fun and those color palettes? Stunning ^^

And second thing second, just some food for thought if you ever want to get angsty about Jerry and Dean, coffee by Chappell Roan sounds like it was written about their break up specifically and I can't stop thinking abt it dndnden

*Cue me losing my mind*

Hiii- they say flattery gets you everywhere and turns out with me, it gets you animatics- jkjk but I do appreciate the kind comments ^^

I’ll put up the animatic separately and take the opportunity to leave the preamble here to keep the video post neat bc until someone tells me to shut up and just post art- I’m gonna ramble… So here’s the commentary you didn’t ask for along with my favourite panels:

First off- You turned me into a big time Chappell Roan listener which is great bc I need music recs to fix my listening habits before Spotify wrapped drops. My roundup last year was shameful… Red Wine Supernova is my new dish washing song.

Even tho it’s not the song’s vibe I kept the content as silly as I could for my own sanity. I don’t love getting too deep into the serious/sad side of M+L for a few reasons but I do find it all very interesting. Point being this song was too good to pass up doing something a bit bigger for.

Ngl tho- this did have me pulling out hair at multiple points. I never colour animatics, rarely even tone them- but you mentioned colour palettes and I was determined to deliver so pardon the messy colouring but (that was the tradeoff) I did not have it in me to stay in the lines. I’m choosing to be kind to myself and opt to call it an artistic choice and not midway burnout. And nothing was gonna get me to open after effects/premiere not even the janky ass golf ball OML this only makes sense if u watch the video.

There are parts of this I’m SO happy with and others I hate. I think it’s really obvious which sections I started losing steam on but overall I lowkey like the end product. Nothing I make will ever be good/perfect- this was one hell of a practice in accepting that lmao- but I can still be ok with the work problems and all yknow? I very nearly shelved this completely bc I got so worked up about the maybe 5 panels I dislike out of 106 total. Counting them was eye opening to ask myself: you’re gonna let that small a ratio stop you from sharing this after putting in days and days of effort? The insecurity goes deep and TBH getting asks has been a nice way of working through it since I post the art I make for answers no matter what only bc I KNOW someone out there wants to see it. It might not sound it but it’s actually quite positive.

Also, although I feel I’ve done my fair share of reading, I’m no expert. So if anything is really off point- sorry my bad (I won’t fix it tho bc I cannot physically stand to look at this another second lol)

I tried to stick to real things found in articles/books/photos/interviews etc bc outside of obviously fictional AUs I’m not super into making stuff up about them (and who needs to I mean the legit stuff is already insane enough) Sure I framed the events in specific ways to suit the song and some aspects are fictionalized (mainly bc the referenced written accounts lacked detail to draw 100% faithfully from anyhow) but otherwise I got my sources cited.

ANYWAYS… sorry for hijacking this answer I need to learn to chill out. Irl I’m a pretty reserved talker so you can tell I’m in a comfy place when I let loose and blather on endlessly lmao brevity is not a skill I possess.

You were probably expecting illustrations or smth but I hope what I came up with is still somewhat alright AND please don’t let my complaining fool you, I genuinely loved making this.

One FINAL Relevant Note: the line “nowhere else is safe every place leads back to your place” is gut wrenching. You’re so right about this song perfectly describing the break up. They always came back to each other and there’s something so devastating about that kind of haunting human connection.

OkAY I’m done promise- I thought I’d implode if I didn’t get all that out

[bucky-h0e]

Warnings: Bucky and Alpine being cute, a lot of song lyrics written out, Bucky being forced to deal with Alpine's dramatics, Alpine gets in her feels, Alpine can sing, Bucky having headaches, mentions of Bucky dancing

Serendipity Masterlist

Alpine 'introducing' Bucky to music (AKA. Alpine Aggressively Breaking Out Into Song)

Alpine is little ball of sunshine and the type of person who uses music to reflect her mood

she has a little collection of speakers that she uses, each with their different strength

bucky normally hears it before he gets out the lift to their floor

its nice

it gives him a clue as to how Alpine's day was

and it's a regular thing to expect

if bucky had one complaint

just one

it would be that Alpine HAS to sing the songs

she wasn't a bad singer

no she was pretty good to be honest

it was that it was always so aggressive

it could be a love song and she's staring him down aggressively singing her feelings towards him

she's emotionally constipated in that department so it's the only time she actually has the guts to do it

the first instance of her aggressive love was a few days after they'd officially met

bucky was still going to therapy at this stage and to be honest he fucking needed it after this incident

he had just been watching tv in his bare ass apartment, sat on the floor when he heard the undeniable thump thump of one of Alpine's speakers coming through the door

Alpine ever the respectful young adult came barging in, a small portable speaker in her hand, oversized clothing and messy ass hair

she's obviously having a grand time, singing her songs and Bucky had stood up so quickly by now

she had warned him that now they were 'friends', she'd be barging in on him

to which he replied

"I will kill you."

and she simply said

"Bet"

now he hadn't actually done anything, only been ready to defend himself

every time it happened, he was worried he's on day actually hurt her

this girl fucking laughs whenever he gets in a defensive stance and claimed its 'exposure therapy' - bullshit he'd checked with his therapist but she was no help because she just teased him about having a soft spot for the youth

Alpine had been cleaning her place, when 'Unwritten' by Natasha Bedingfield came blaring through her speakers

she listened to the full song first, happily singing and cleaning when she wondered how Bucky would react to the happy tune

this man is so grumpy and hates life and people - he needs to feel the rain on his skin (pun definitely intended)

so rather than politely recommend the song

Alpine will force this poor man to listen to her song recommendations

"Staring-"

"Alpine what the fuck?!"

"-AT THE BLANK PAGE BEFORE YOU, OPEN UP THE DIRTY WINDOW, LET SUN ILLUMINATE THE WORDS THAT YOU CANNOT FIND REACHING-"

ya'll remember the video of the kid in the car?

yeah, that Alpine in this moment

Bucky's bare ass apartment means that she can have a little dance around whilst she (very beautifully in her opinion) serenades this 106 year old grouch

"-FEEL THE RAIN ON YOUR SKIN-"

she's started his tap, put her hand under the water and started flicking it at him

(if it had been raining she would have forced his head out the window lets be honest)

"-NO ONE ELSE CAN FEEL IT FOR YOU, ONLY YOU CAN LET IT IN. NO ONE ELSE, NO ELSE CAN SPEAK THE WORDS ON YOUR LIPS-"

dramatic head turns and aggressive pointing at the very confused man

honestly, he's watching this little show thinking that if HYDRA had forced him to watch this he probably would have just behaved himself so that he didn't have to see it ever again

"are you done?"

"NO!"

replays the song until bucky has a noise complaint from their downstairs neighbours

Alpine has to buy dinner as an apology

Bucky defo tells Raynor in their next session

"She sounds like a nice kid, James."

"She's a psycho, Doc."

Alpine loves all songs, especially upbeat songs or songs that have a certain

spark

something that she can never forget or get out of her head if it randomly shuffles onto her playlist

case and point

Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape".

Akon's 'woo-hoo, yee-hoo's?

yeah, she's screaming those

Bucky is terrified

one Halloween, Alpine and her friends decided to dress up as Bucky, Sam and Steve for their party

she's painted her left arm intricately to look like Bucky's using pictures she had of him

since it was hosted at Alpine's place, Sam and Bucky decided to pop over

Sam wanted to show Bucky what a party of a twenty year old looked like in the 21st century

man was traumatised

not by the loud music and LED flashing lights

the mess or the mass of bodies in barely there clothing

no

it was Alpine, dressed as him, singing this song

"IF I COULD ESCAPE!"

she is definitely drunk - so so so drunk

"AND RECREATE A PLACE AS MY OWN WORLD. AND I COULD BE YOUR FAVOURITE GIRL! PERFECTLY TOGETHER, AND TELL ME BOY NOW WOULDN'T THAT BE SWEET!"

her friend (dressed as Sam) was cheering her on as she stood on her coffee table, singing and swinging her hips to the song

Sam was laughing so fucking hard, he thought his lungs would actually collapse

"I KNOW I'VE BEEN A REAL BAD GIRL!"

Bucky could die

he would love to die right now

especially with Sam asking him if he'd been a bad girl

if the ground swallowed him up right now

he would be happy

Sam decides that he too could die after Alpine's friend joins her on the table, hand on her hip as they start shouting those god damn woo hoo's

it was on this day that Bucky decided that he wasn't particularly fond of this song

But Sam has already made it his ringtone and has a picture of a drunk, smiling Alpine dressed in this Halloween costume hugging a less than impressed but soft Bucky set as his profile picture.

the song came on again later in the night after the party had ended, leaving the trio and Alpine had convinced Sam to sing it with her

they gave Bucky a concert which he loved (despised)

he is still heavily traumatised from seeing a female version of himself screaming these lyrics

used it as blackmail against Sam

"One wrong move and I show the world that Captain America has been a real bad girl."

now Alpine adores upbeat, songs that she can sing and dance to

she will dance in the street quite happily (she's got the scary guard dog privilege that is Bucky Barnes)

but if theres one thing that would drive her

f e r a l

it's the opportunity to be dramatic

she could be having a great day

her relationships are going great

she got a promotion

she's making bank

it doesn't matter how good the day is going

when certain songs come on

suddenly she's just come home from a war that she's barely made it out alive from

her boyfriend of 5 years has cheated on her and she's been kicked out of her apartment

this girl sings the heartbreak like it's actually happening

These are the times that Bucky is actually worried that he's befriended a psychopath

it'll be a normal day, Bucky would be coming back from morning run

he'd introduced it just to get some sort of routine in his day

catching his breath, he'd do a little knock on Alpine's door before turning to unlock his own door

they'd started knocking to let the other know if they were leaving or if they were back from a place

they can't really place when they started it - but it made them both relax knowing that the other got home safely

Alpine, ever the nosey neighbour, opens the door

headphones on, shouting right at the poor man

"WE COULD HAVE HAD IT AAALLLL!"

"wHAT THE HELL!"

"ROLLING IN THE DEEEEPPPP"

"Alpine seriously, one of these days my instincts are going to kick in before I can stop them and you will get smacked"

"YOU HAD MY HEART INSIDE OF YOUR HANDS"

"you're not even listening to me"

she's kneeling on the ground as if bucky had just betrayed her in battle

"AND YOU PLAYED IT, TO THE BEAT"

Bucky deadass leaves her there and closes the door on her, sick of her shit or the day

but he's laughing to himself when he hears her still singing her little heart out form her apartment

the neighbours are looking out their door wondering who let the young girl move in

she was normal before Barnes moved in

that's a lie, she was just anti-social

and she stole most of their coupons so no wonder her neighbours didn't talk to her

and god forbid she go through an actual break up

she's this annoying with imagined scenarios, imagine if someone actually cheated on her or broke up with her just out of the blue

she's lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling singing her feels until her friends have to call Bucky in because none of their tactics are working

this is the ONLY time Bucky will actually play any of her music

she is definitely a swiftie, i feel like she has a specific playlist just for her taylor moments

she tries to get Bucky into it but he likes 40s music

also tries to get Sam into it and it works

he's a secret swiftie and no one can tell me otherwise

most of the songs she pushes onto Bucky are Taylor Swift songs, they're the ones that get stuck in her head the most often

she also requests them when she's drunk so you can imagine Sam driving her and Bucky back to their hotel after a Wilson cookout

she definitely had a few too many, requesting Taylor Swift the whole way back

Bucky is shaking his head because he imagines this is what looking after an actual child is like

Sam relents, starts playing her playlist

Alpine is loving life, drunk in the back of the car, in her feels and little imaginary scenarios that surface whenever she listens to music

"I'M DRUNK IN THE BACK OF THE CAR AND I CRIED LIKE A BABY COMING HOME FROM THE BAR! SAID I'M FINE BUT THAT WASN'T TRUE, I DON'T WANNA KEEP SECRETS JUST TO KEEP YOU AND I SNUCK IN THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE, EVERY NIGHT THAT SUMMER JUST TO SEAL MY FATE"

"AND I SCREAM FOR WHAT EVER ITS WORTH I LOVE YOU AIN'T THAT THE WORST THING YOU EVER HEARD-"

Bucky has to physically take a breath, watching her in shock and amusement as she belts they lyrics out, drunk out of her mind

is definitely shocked when Sam also joins in

"-HE LOOKS UP GRINNING LIKE A DEVIL!"

he is definitely impressed in times like this

but it's also times like this where he gets headaches and songs stuck in his head because Alpine doesn't shut up when she's drunk

honestly, she's awful (more on that later)

but he like's this version more than any other version of drunk Alpine

her other songs of choice include a lot of suggestive songs

surprisingly, they've have had long drunken discussions about these songs

shes drunk

he's unfortunately sober, wishing he had some of that good asgardian alcohol

"So he's saying he could fuck 24/7, seven days a week, which is why I think he's actually a super soldier."

"There are only two super soldier's in the world kid, you're looking at one of them." And i'm not sharing any aspect of my sex life with you."

"yeah but if there were going to be another one he would definitely be an option."

"Yeah whatever kid, just go to sleep"

"besides, you don't have a sex life. you got no game with the ladies. fuckin nerd."

"rude."

"Sorry, you're right, even the nerdiest nerd has more game than you."

"I will suffocate you in your sleep"

"STEVE ROGERS HAD MORE GAME THAN YOU AND HE JUMPS OUT OF WINDOWS WITH A GLORIFIED DINNER PLATE"

what did he do to deserve this type of abuse

honestly

and god forbid if she goes through a break up

the next time she's being dramatic, her and Bucky are chilling in his place

she's doing some shopping on her laptop, headphones in humming to the songs

Bucky is watching TV, wondering what he should order for their dinner because he didn't want to cook and Alpine had cooked for them their other night

(domesticated little cuties)

it's a nice sense of peace for Bucky

it feels like home

especially when Alpine starts singing softly

he prefers these moments

as said before, Alpine isn't a bad singer, she's good

and Bucky finds her voice soothing

especially when she's singing the slower, heart warming songs that don't stress too much on her vocals

so when she started singing to the song playing through her head phones softly, he closed his eyes and just listened

she'd noticed, disconnected her headphones so he could hear the notes

"And I thank God everyday, for the girl he sent my way..."

Oddly, Bucky connects ot it

its a song about romance, but he things of his relationship with Alpine

what they had was a family bond and he'd do anything to protect it

most nights he found himself thanking his lucky starts for his little neighbour

"But i know the things he gives me.... he can take away..."

that was definitely something Bucky was worried about, something he dreaded would happen.

it was why he was so protective of her

"And I hold you everynight.... that's a feeling i wanna get used to... but there's no man as terrified as the man who stands to lose you..."

oh wow Bucky definitely relates to this song

it's nice

for once he understands the songs she's singing

and its a nice, calm, serene song

he's looking forward to the rest of it

Alpine has a little grin on her face, not that he can see it

"mmm... Please.... stay..."

her voice changes

"I want you, I need you, oh God"

it's slightly deeper and she sounds more troubled than before

"Don't take"

Bucky opens his eyes and glances at her

"THESE BEAUTIFUL THINGS THAT I'VE GOT"

she stands and starts mimicking the guitar aggressively, pointing to Bucky

"I WANT YOU I NEED YOU OH GOD. DON'T TAKE THESE BEAUTIFUL THINGS THATS IVE GOT!"

Bucky is grinning and laughing

it's the only time he's truly, truly enjoyed her dramatics, despite the screaming at him

Alpine is grinning at him, jumping up on his new couch next to him singing those high notes before falling to her knees next to him and grabbing his arm as she finished the song

he applauds her and she bows

yeah, he enjoys those moments

until she charges him for the private show

"$50!? it was one song!"

"i did choreography and everything"

he doesn't pay, obviously but she's takes payment in the form of the dinner she was already getting so-

at the end of the day, Alpine is a child at heart

she get's excited and loves to express her self

unlike a certain super soldier

so her introducing him to modern music normally turns into him getting it stuck in his head because she's been replaying the same song for around 2 hours doing a task

or because she's singing at the top of her lungs

as much as he isn't a fan of 21st century music, he loves watching the little performances of Alpine and occasionally Sam

and yes, whilst he may be tempted to join them, he would rather die

he handles the instrumental versions of things extremely well

Lyrics can be lost on him sometimes.

but he does get his chance to join in though because she adds some 40s style music to her playlists for him, and when he hears that he often brings her in for a dance when it's been a particularly good day

sometimes, very oftenly so, if a modern song carries the same tune and tempo, he'll carry on the dance

"Oh ho! Wait until Sam hears about this. Bucky Barnes dancing to modern music!"

"Go ahead, he'll never believe you."

denies it every happened when she tells Sam at their next family dinner

"I swear he danced!"

"Bucky? Dancing? You think I'd fall for that?"

"But he did!"

Bucky simply offers an evil grin when she asks him to tell Sam the truth

"you're delusional kid"

[missamyshay]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag @seek--rest!

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

25

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

481,951

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Spider-Man, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and The Bear

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Puzzle Pieces, across the hall, 106 miles, maroon, baby, it’s the way you touch me

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

ALWAYS! It might take me a while to get round to them sometimes but I absolutely love replying to comments. I always appreciate that someone has taken the time to leave one and I love giving the same energy back.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Definitely timeless.

…for now 😈

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I’m a sucker for a happy ending so this is hard to choose but I think A Sticky Situation or letters we never sent are the most lighthearted.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Fortunately not. Every once in a while I’ll get a passive aggressive comment from someone who doesn’t like the direction a story is going. (Usually when things are more complex than ‘kiss and make up straight away’.) But it doesn’t bother me.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Love to write smut. Smut is one of the best vehicles for character exploration and introspection in my opinion. The thoughts, movements, feelings that a person has in a moment of intimacy are so fascinating to me and are a great way to ‘get to know’ the character, so to speak. Also?? It’s hot???

10. Do you write crossovers?

No, but I’d love to try one day!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

spotlights and moonlight (w @seek--rest) is my first ever collab and it’s been very very fun so far. Look forward to doing more co-writing in the future.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

PeterMJ

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

None! chiaroscuro, glitch, across the hall, and spotlights and moonlight are my only posted WIPs and I have plans to finish all of them!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Two I can think of—one that I believe about myself and another that people tend to tell me. In my opinion, I think I’m good at character building, at doing a deep dive into a character’s psyche and fleshing them out so that they feel like a real person in a real world. Other people often tell me that my writing is immersive and easy to picture/imagine—almost like watching a show or movie.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I can often be a very dense writer—which means word counts can get away from me and things can be overly descriptive which I imagine some readers might find boring.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Never tried it! The only language I would be able to try would be French but don’t have any plans to right now!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

This is a horrible question and the answer would change every day but I’ll give one per fandom: timeless (Spider-Man), Bad Days (TFATWS), 106 miles (The Bear).

Tagging @tllgrrl, @palettesofrenaissance-main, @tvfanatic97-2 to answer next! 🫶🏾

[daydream-the-demon]

1: Name

2: Age

3: 3 Fears

4: 3 things I love

5: 4 turns on

6: 4 turns off

7: My best friend

8: Sexual orientation

9: My best first date

10: How tall am I

11: What do I miss

12: What time were I born

13: Favorite color

14: Do I have a crush

15: Favorite quote

16: Favorite place

17: Favorite food

18: Do I use sarcasm

19: What am I listening to right now

20: First thing I notice in new person

21: Shoe size

22: Eye color

23: Hair color

24: Favorite style of clothing

25: Ever done a prank call?

27: Meaning behind my URL

28: Favorite movie

29: Favorite song

30: Favorite band

31: How I feel right now

32: Someone I love

33: My current relationship status

34: My relationship with my parents

35: Favorite holiday

36: Tattoos and piercing i have

37: Tattoos and piercing i want

38: The reason I joined Tumblr

39: Do I and my last ex hate each other?

40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts?

41: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted?

42: When did I last hold hands?

43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning?

44: Have You shaved your legs in the past three days?

45: Where am I right now?

46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me?

47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level?

48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad?

49: Am I excited for anything?

50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to?

51: How often do I wear a fake smile?

52: When was the last time I hugged someone?

53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me?

54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not?

55: What is something I disliked about today?

56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

57: What do I think about most?

58: What’s my strangest talent?

59: Do I have any strange phobias?

60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

61: What was the last lie I told?

62: Do I prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?

63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

64: Do I believe in magic?

65: Do I believe in luck?

66: What’s the weather like right now?

67: What was the last book I’ve read?

68: Do I like the smell of gasoline?

69: Do I have any nicknames?

70: What was the worst injury I’ve ever had?

71: Do I spend money or save it?

72: Can I touch my nose with a tongue?

73: Is there anything pink in 10 feet from me?

74: Favorite animal?

75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM?

76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is?

77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it?

78: How can you win my heart?

79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone?

80: What is my favorite word?

81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr

82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say?

83: Do I have any relatives in jail?

84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power?

85: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

86: What is my current desktop picture?

87: Had sex?

88: Bought condoms?

89: Gotten pregnant?

90: Failed a class?

91: Kissed a boy?

92: Kissed a girl?

93: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain?

94: Had job?

95: Left the house without my wallet?

96: Bullied someone on the internet?

97: Had sex in public?

98: Played on a sports team?

99: Smoked weed?

100: Did drugs?

101: Smoked cigarettes?

102: Drank alcohol?

103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan?

104: Been overweight?

105: Been underweight?

106: Been to a wedding?

107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight?

108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight?

109: Been outside my home country?

110: Gotten my heart broken?

111: Been to a professional sports game?

112: Broken a bone?

113: Cut myself?

114: Been to prom?

115: Been in airplane?

116: Fly by helicopter?

117: What concerts have I been to?

118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex?

119: Learned another language?

120: Wore make up?

121: Lost my virginity before I was 18?

122: Had oral sex?

123: Dyed my hair?

124: Voted in a presidential election?

125: Rode in an ambulance?

126: Had a surgery?

127: Met someone famous?

128: Stalked someone on a social network?

129: Peed outside?

130: Been fishing?

131: Helped with charity?

132: Been rejected by a crush?

133: Broken a mirror?

134: What do I want for birthday?

skip the weird ones/ones your uncomfortable w

All of them under cut:

1: Name

I just realized what I wanted to be called. I'm Alexander Cifra Hyde now!

2: Age

13!

3: 3 Fears

Death, nothing being real, [insert existential thought].

4: 3 things I love

My friends, fandoms, Tape Five.

5: 4 turns on

Uhh. I read fanfiction so here are fanfiction ones: Cannibalism, MC being insane, power dynamics, older characters.

6: 4 turns off

Also fanfiction: Can't think of anything except AWKWARD MOMENTS THAT YOU JUST HAVE TO CRINGE AT.

7: My best friend

@author-of-the-year

8: Sexual orientation

Repulsed Aromantic Asexual, but also Aegofictoromantic Aegofictosexual.

9: My best first date

Never had one and never will. Being single is a liberty if you think of it as one.

10: How tall am I

155 centimeters or about 5'1".

11: What do I miss

I miss a lot of things. Mostly miss the time I was actually happy.

12: What time were I born

Two days ago! August 12th is my birthday!

13: Favorite color

Black (all-timer), Gold, Blood-Red... That is my favorites.

14: Do I have a crush

Nah. Well friend crushes? A couple.

15: Favorite quote

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." It helped me not feel like a failure. I like this quote. I think about it quite a bit.

16: Favorite place

My home I guess. Old Town Cottonwood is also amazing.

17: Favorite food

I made my own recipe: Rice, fried grated carrots, eggs, cilantro, and

18: Do I use sarcasm

Sometimes? I mean I don't really use it but on certain occasions I will. Sarcasm seems rude to me in certain context, or I'll use it as joking if I just did something and then go "What? I didn't do that. Yep, totally didn't."

19: What am I listening to right now

I am in love with the song Forever Young by Tape Five.

20: First thing I notice in new person

Usually their voice and manner of speaking and how they look. Though I'm not quick to judge a book by its cover.

21: Shoe size

6'5 women's and extra wide I'm sure.

22: Eye color

I HAVE GREY EYES!

23: Hair color

My natural hair color is dirty blonde, and due to how my hair works, it keeps getting darker. (When I was younger I had completely bright blonde hair, now it's dirty-blonde, and then it will be dark brown like my dad.) I have it dyed red though!

24: Favorite style of clothing

SUITS! SUITS. Victorian Era or 1920s style? I can't have enough of it. I wear a tuxedo every day!

25: Ever done a prank call?

I barely even do calls on my own. And no. It's just not- No.

27: Meaning behind my URL

Well, I am Daydream. I'm Daydream because I am a Maladaptive Daydreamer and I create things from my daydreams! I'm a demon. I'm a demonic entity. I have liked too many demons in my time and ever since I was 7 I would draw pentagrams for no reason. I am just demonic.

28: Favorite movie

I HAVE ONE AT THE TIP OF MY TONGUE- AAAAA- WAIT. I just recently watched "Don't Look Up"! THAT'S THE MOVIE! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

29: Favorite song

Forever Young by Tape Five is my current obsession and favorite song.

30: Favorite band

Tape Five if you couldn't tell.

31: How I feel right now

I'm happy, I just got the Book of Bill and I am thrilled. I also love answering questions!

32: Someone I love

@author-of-the-year and all my friends. I don't think I could live without them... (Literally-)

33: My current relationship status

Single? Taken? Honestly weird-ass shiz. I do have a "boyfriend" but he's not really my boyfriend but yeah. I just say I'm taken so I don't have to explain what being AroAce is.

34: My relationship with my parents

I don't talk to them. They're transphobic and it's hard to live with that. I plan to move out and go no contact. They give me things I want and I'm living an okay life, but in constant anxiety.

35: Favorite holiday

Christmas!!! You get to scam your loved ones out of objects you want!!!

36: Tattoos and piercing i have

None.

37: Tattoos and piercing i want

I want to get an orbital earring on both ears! I also want a tattoo sometime. Something small but meaningful or something. I'd draw on my body anyways.

38: The reason I joined Tumblr

When I learned Bill Cipher was a Tumblr sexyman, I just HAD to go to Tumblr. My first post is of Billtober and of a drawing of Bill Cipher.

39: Do I and my last ex hate each other?

Not related. Single and always was.

40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts?

Yeah!!! From my very sweet discord server.

41: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted?

I never kissed anyone before. Except like on the knuckles, but I don't text her.

42: When did I last hold hands?

With my mom probably. I don't like physical contact at all.

43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning?

I usually wake up at 6 AM or 6:10 AM and finish getting ready at 6:40 AM. Putting an entire suit on and then getting everything I need for the day AND breakfast in about 30-40 minutes? That's right!

44: Have You shaved your legs in the past three days?

I don't shave. Makes me feel manly also I don't ever want to feel razor burn AGAIN. Legs are also useless to shave since I always wear dress pants anyways and my hair is light.

45: Where am I right now?

In my chair in my room in my house in my state in my country.

46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me?

Probably myself in this hypothetical scenario. I don't usually have anyone to rely on. If my online friends were with me though, they would take care of me.

47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level?

My mom says it's too loud but I think it's reasonable.

48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad?

I live with my mom and step-dad, my biological dad is in Russia.

49: Am I excited for anything?

Reading the Book of Bill, and whatnot. Drawing.

50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to?

Opposite sex? No probably not. Opposite gender? Yes.

51: How often do I wear a fake smile?

That, my child, is called autistic masking!!! I do it all the time!

52: When was the last time I hugged someone?

My mom because she asked, like a couple months ago.

53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me?

Never kissed anybody. Also I'm not a jealous bitch. If it was in the context of cheating? Their problem, not mine.

54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not?

There is always a reason I trust someone. Real trust doesn't come easy with me.

55: What is something I disliked about today?

School.

56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

ALL MY ONLINE FRIENDS!

57: What do I think about most?

Art, and fandoms, and songs.

58: What’s my strangest talent?

Hm... I can put a leg around my head. I have hyperflexibility (but I'm not as flexible now).

59: Do I have any strange phobias?

Small dogs. They just creep my out. I don't like small dogs. Also some thoughts relating to existential crises some people would consider weird.

60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

Not sure what this means. Oh! I am a model, of course I have to be on camera! I'm a youtuber and a star!

61: What was the last lie I told?

"I'm not trans."

62: Do I prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?

VIDEO CHATTING!

63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

Ghosts? Not really. Seems untrue. But aliens? SURE AS HELL! They exist! In all the parallel universes and all the free open space in this universe we have with thousands of stars with thousands of inhabitable planets... Yes! It's proven they exist! Though none have reached Earth (as far as we know) and that we haven't reached any other lifeform... YET!

64: Do I believe in magic?

Depends on what type of magic. Though usually, I would say no. I don't believe in magic.

65: Do I believe in luck?

Well, statistically there is a concept of luck where odds are outbeat by other odds. Not like as a magical thing though, though I do have "lucky" objects I keep.

66: What’s the weather like right now?

Sunny, warm, and dry.

67: What was the last book I’ve read?

THE BOOK OF BILL!

68: Do I like the smell of gasoline?

Ew no. I don't like strong smells (even freshly cut grass and lavander piss me off).

69: Do I have any nicknames?

Daydream is my nickname, also Alex.

70: What was the worst injury I’ve ever had?

Broken wrist probably.

71: Do I spend money or save it?

Usually I save it and then I have a period where I'd spend it all. I'm pretty responsible with money.

72: Can I touch my nose with a tongue?

No.

73: Is there anything pink in 10 feet from me?

I have a pool floatie, an axolotl toy, my plants are pink, I have an old pink toy.

74: Favorite animal?

MOTHS! I also like axolotls a lot!

75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM?

Staying up late looking at BillFord on Tumblr-

76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is?

Oh huh. I don't think he has one. It's just Satan.

77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it?

Almost any Tape Five song I have an obsession with at the moment.

78: How can you win my heart?

Just be a good person to me, and CHAOS and WEIRDNESS!

79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone?

I want my friends' words written on it. I want to be known that I was truly loved.

80: What is my favorite word?

Cannibalism, murder, evil... These are some of the words included in my vocal stims.

81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr

I can't really chose. I guess donniipao, calp0sa, author-of-the-year, timedoutradio, and every blog is great as long as there's content and they're a good person!

82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say?

"I am god." I have to assert my dominance somehow!

83: Do I have any relatives in jail?

No. Not that I know of.

84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power?

TO DAYDREAM ANYTHING UP. That's my official superpower. I can daydream up anything and everything I want.

85: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

Oof this is a hard one. Depends on who is asking and what the question is. I have a lot of secrets to hide.

86: What is my current desktop picture?

Bill Cipher because he is my Ford's babygirl.

87-93 were deleted.

94: Had job?

I plan to have one! I want to be an art commissioner soon.

95: Left the house without my wallet?

Many times.

96: Bullied someone on the internet?

Yeah. I used to leave hate comments.

97 was deleted.

98: Played on a sports team?

99: Smoked weed?

No.

100: Did drugs?

I'm a good boy, no.

101: Smoked cigarettes?

I tried once.

102: Drank alcohol?

I tried beer before, not that good.

103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan?

I'm mostly a vegetarian in my diet, though on rare occasions I'll eat fish or meat.

104: Been overweight?

No.

105: Been underweight?

No.

106: Been to a wedding?

Yes! It was one of my favorite days. I was really young, I remember distinctly putting a bunch of stick-on googly eyes on my face because I am silly like that.

107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight?

Bitch what kind of question is that? I'm chronically online. I also draw a lot on my PC and I can get sucked into it.

108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight?

Like a couple times.

109: Been outside my home country?

I currently live in the USA and I'm from Russia, so yes.

110: Gotten my heart broken?

My friends have said to me things I am very deeply sad about.

111: Been to a professional sports game?

Nope.

112: Broken a bone?

I once broke my wrist because I fell backwards from sitting on the windowsill onto the floor.

113: Cut myself?

I have SHed before, so it's a specialty!

114: Been to prom?

No.

115: Been in airplane?

Aeroplanes are so cool! I've been in a couple, going from Russia to the US, and going to my step-sister's wedding.

116: Fly by helicopter?

Nope. Though I live near an aeroport!

117: What concerts have I been to?

I've been to an AJR Phoenix concert once! It was so cool.

118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex?

I'm gay. Yes- Okay but seriously I'm aroace though I radiate gay energy so yeah no-?

119: Learned another language?

I learned English, and I'm currently trying to learn Italian.

120: Wore make up?

I'm slay! Of course I did! Though I don't do it often.

121-122 were deleted.

123: Dyed my hair?

My hair is dyed red currently, and previously I dyed it black.

124: Voted in a presidential election?

I'm not old enough to do that yet.

125: Rode in an ambulance?

No, I don't think so. If I have, I was really young.

126: Had a surgery?

No.

127: Met someone famous?

Sadly no. But my tumblr mutuals have a lotta followers!

128: Stalked someone on a social network?

I stalk some people, especially tumblr mutuals I want to be friends with but am awkward with.

129: Peed outside?

Yeah.

130: Been fishing?

I want to do it sometime.

131: Helped with charity?

No.

132: Been rejected by a crush?

I never confessed so- Never even tried because being loveless is amazing.

133: Broken a mirror?

Yep.

134: What do I want for birthday?

Well, I already got everything I want- Lol. I got my Book of Bill and I am ecstatic! I want a debt card though so I can finally start online commissions!

[screechingfromthevoid]

@disastertourwaterdeepedition

Sorry for the weird fucking post but like tumblr straight up ate your ask?? I had to search and screenshot from my email??

Its like super fine I love big rants and big feelings (especially about the blorbo of the month).

Whoa buddy if you wanna talk about a rant. This got so long I'm putting it under a read more.

I'm not sure any of this is above board conscious thought process. When he looks to Orym, when he thinks about how he feels about Orym, I think Dorian, king of compartmentalizing, gets a rush of all three of the things in the post. He gets a little too lost in thought looking at the way Orym's hair now tries to curl against his ear or how well tailored the armor is to his body, he first gets hit with the Will guilt. Then he thinks about "ohmygodtheresawaron" and he'd shovel all of that down. Because its not time to think about Orym and him. But he knows by the way Orym watches him "sleep". He knows by the way Orym refused to be princess carried in Aeror. (Seriously dude Dorian princess carries everyone. It would have been less suspicious if you let it happen). He knows because Orym didn't see his husband when they were in Zephrah. But when he dares himself to actually think about a possible future together, he uses the big three to shove it down. And no, he has no clue that Orym thinks he doesn't return his feelings. (Wow you're right. Pronouns are hard)

Lol to finally answer your question: I'm not sure! Because the thing is! Orym has gone down twice in a battle with Dorian there! And honestly if Orym being on death's door doesn't make either of them confess, i'm not sure what will! (thats a lie I do have an idea). But like Orym went to the moon and back and almost died on the moon and all the count communicate to Dorian was "I miss you"!! Orym nearly died twice in one battle and he didn't think to give Dorian a sloppy, "If I die again I want to have kissed you once" kiss before going in for another round of getting hacked on. Dorian watched him go down and had to bring him back from death's door (one failed save scared the shit out of me) and he didn't think to give Orym a "We need you, I need you" kiss.

My unfortunate thought process, which I can't decide if I want it to come true or not, is that Dorian has to get hurt. Like when I say hurt I fucking mean it. Taken down in a round or two, two failed death saves, hurt. Because then Orym will have to face losing Dorian again. Face losing the man he loves, again. He pours a healing potion into Dorian's mouth because warlocks don't have a single healing spell. (Just checked). Orym feels so helpless in saving Dorian, because a healing potion isn't nearly enough to keep him up. He starts to cry over Dorian's (now conscious) body. He whispers between sobs "Not again, not again. Dorian you can't leave me. I love you, please, I never got to tell you, please stay alive." and Dorian, having heard all of that, reaches up to cup Orym's cheek and says. "Alright, just for you though."

Or something like that.

As much as I would love for them to be adults and just talk to each other. I know thats not going to happen. (Please, Robbie, Liam, prove me wrong.) So I think major tragedy will be the reason they confess to each other. Because they're idiots in love with a lot of weight on their shoulders.

[folliesandfolderols]

Writing prompts days 101-104

From this prompt list. If you’ve read this far, I’m not sure you need any explanation, but the short version is I hadn’t written any fiction since 2019, I set a goal to write at least 150 words/day in 2024, and this list was my way to restart. Also I abruptly decided on day 2 I would write an entire Tim/Damian story connecting all the prompts, because I am Good at Judging My Limits. /sarcasm Anyway, I finished the rough draft a while ago and am now unlocking the old entries as I edit.

Read from the beginning here, or on ao3 here.

Days 96-100 here

***

11. “I’ll make you feel good, I promise. Just trust me.”

34. “Not so fast, bun.”

70. “I-I promise I’ll be good.”

78. “Let me ride you.”

101. “Lift your hips up for me.”

103. “Look at you, coming undone before I’ve even started touching you.”

106. “Sweetheart, you’re so responsive to my touch.”

107. “I think you’d look even better under me.”

120. “You only get to watch.” “B-but—” “No buts, sweetheart.”

***

They dropped off their passengers, Cass, and Stephanie where Jason was waiting and practically flew to Leslie Thompkins. On the way, Tim texted Katarina to get to a safehouse Damian had previously set up for her. After that, he called Dick and asked him to go to Metropolis and move her. Obviously she had been suspected of passing along information to the wrong people. 

That call turned into him persuading Dick to take care of Katarina and get some rest before coming to Gotham to check on Damian. Dick finally agreed, but it was a close run thing.

The new Redbird, though it was substantially more outfitted than the original, wasn't really made for people suffering bullet wounds to stretch out comfortably. Damian remained silent for the trip. Whenever Tim glanced over to check on him, he had one hand over the wound in his shoulder, adding his own strength to the pressure dressing they'd hastily applied in the field. His skin had turned chalky gray.

"Almost there, Dami," Tim said each time.

Damian kept his eyes closed and didn't respond.

Leslie had obviously been warned by the others, waiting at the back entry to her clinic and resigned about it. Tim had stopped taking it personally a long time ago, but he still felt a pang when she leveled a tired glance at him and sighed. "He's practically a baby. Isn't dying once enough for you people?"

I hope so, Tim thought but didn't say, as she helped Damian limp to the exam room.

"I was never a baby," he heard Damian tell her before the door swung shut. Tim tried not to remember all the ways that could be true.

He stretched out in the driver's seat and let everyone know they'd arrived. Jason checked in from the immigrant legal advocacy group he'd woken up. They were working on temporary shelter for the people brought to their doorstep while Cass and Stephanie worked on meeting their even more immediate needs in the interim.

After an hour, Leslie texted him to come get Damian. He met her at the door. Damian blinked at him owlishly, domino gone. His bloodstained costume hung in tatters around his torso, most of his skin above the waist bared.

"Painkillers?" Tim asked, wrapping Damian’s undamaged arm around his shoulders.

"He's on Vicodin and antibiotics." Leslie handed him two prescription bottles. "Follow the instructions exactly. Being a hero doesn't free you from the possibility of addiction. He needed blood. Make sure he takes iron, too. I know you're all intimately familiar with wound care so I won't bore you with further info, but that bullet came damn close to the brachial artery and it could've been horrific. Absolutely no vigilante activities until six weeks from now."

"Got it. Thank you, doctor." Tim hesitated. "Does it help to know he got this because he saved a couple of women from being trafficked?"

Her face shifted into a sadness that impressed deeper lines around her eyes and mouth. "Maybe a little."

Damian fell asleep almost immediately. Tim drove to the cave at a careful speed, doing his best to avoid the potholes and road hazards that the car's sports suspension exacerbated. He parked and got out to see Bruce looming in wait, still in full costume except the cowl.

"Don't," he warned, shutting his door gently in hopes of letting Damian sleep through whatever recriminations were about to come his way.

Bruce, of course, ignored him. "Your information was faulty and you didn't catch that fact?"

Okay, they must be doing this right here and now, then. Tim crossed his arms and fixed Bruce with a steady gaze. "It came from a trusted source who didn't know she'd been burned. Her information’s been invaluable to our progress."

Bruce nodded. "So you failed to protect her and you failed to prioritize the civilians' well-being."

"We did lose five of them," Tim admitted. "We had no way of knowing that Falcone had decided to set his own men against his dirty cops."

"You went in with inadequate recon and nearly got forty innocent people killed."

"Forty-five." Bruce's head tilted in reluctant inquiry, and Tim clarified. "Forty-five, counting our team."

“Completely unacceptable.” Bruce swooshed his cape dramatically as he turned on his heel, striding back toward the Batcomputer. “You all acted in an irresponsible and reckless manner tonight. This is what comes of partnering with Hood unnecessarily.”

“This was Jason’s case to begin with!” Tim protested, a flush of real anger making its way up the back of his neck. “And if you listened to the comms recordings you would know he tried to tell me we should call it before it all went sideways.”

“And then you allowed yourself to be baited by Damian into continuing in spite of it.” Bruce sat in his chair, back pointedly toward Tim.

Tim dug his fingers into his thighs and prayed to a God he didn't believe in for the wherewithal not to commit murder tonight. “Damian didn't bait me. I'm glad you brought him up, though. In case you care, he's recovering from a gunshot wound in the passenger seat here and could really use his bed.”

“A gunshot wound he wouldn't have incurred if not for perpetuating the same foolhardy behavior he evidences far too often in the field. He’s benched until further notice.”

A bark of incredulous laughter escaped Tim’s mouth before he could swallow it down. “Bruce, hello, do you know what year this is? Damian is an adult. You can't bench him without forcing the rest of us to take sides that I don't think you want to gamble on being in your favor. And if you wanna call what he did foolhardy, fine. It was also fucking courageous and saved two women from exploitation. Damian took a risk and decided his body was worth sacrificing for their safety, which is precisely what you've trained all of us to do as easily as breathing. If anything, tonight proved that he's got his priorities exactly where Dick hoped they’d end up, back when he first gave him Robin. In other words, your first Robin succeeded in making your last Robin a real hero. I'd tell you that you should be proud but honestly I don't care if you are right now. I need to get your son to bed.”

Bruce's only response was, "Hn."

Tim rolled his eyes, grateful they were still hidden, and walked around to open Damian's door. To his disappointment, Damian's eyes were open, tracking his movements. His face had gone expressionless, a decent indicator that he'd heard the entire conversation.

"Hey." Tim kept his tone soft and his movements slow. "Let's get you upstairs."

Damian nodded, gaze riveted to Tim's face like it was his only point of reference.

Together, they hobbled to the elevator, then up the stairs again to the bedrooms. Damian stayed silent except for an occasional grunt of pain, but by the time Tim leaned him against the hallway wall and swung open his bedroom door, sweat stood out in a fine sheen across his face.

"I cannot get into bed while I'm this filthy," Damian protested when Tim tried to direct him toward the mattress.

Tim peeled off his domino to better meet his gaze, wincing at the pull on his skin. "You can't shower, either." Damian swayed in place, jaw set in the way that meant Tim wouldn't be able to talk him out of it. Tim sighed. "Okay. Let me help you to the bathroom and you can at least clean up with a washcloth and some water in the sink. Sound okay?"

"It's acceptable." Damian leaned into Tim's side heavily enough to make him widen his stance.

Tim helped Damian get out of what was left of his clothes, then sat him on a towel spread across the toilet lid. He ran warm water and soap into the plugged sink while he rummaged under the sink for chlorhexidine.

"Ha! Found it." Tim brandished the bottle in triumph, then faltered. Damian's look was so intense he felt it like a physical pressure against his skin. "What is it?"

"I heard you speaking to Father when we parked in the Cave." Damian swallowed, nausea shadowing his face for a brief moment. "Your defense was . . . unexpected."

Tim huffed and shut the taps off. "Why unexpected? Bruce was being an ass. I know it's because he was scared and angry about you getting hurt, but that doesn't give him permission to talk that way about you."

"Perhaps I deserve his disapprobation." Damian accepted the dampened washcloth Tim handed him and began to clean up.

"You did the right thing. I'm impressed by you."

The words came out of his mouth so easily that for a second, he couldn't understand why Damian faltered in his movements and turned red. Then the reality hit him and he spun around to face the doorway to hide his face, yanking a drawer open as if that had always been his purpose. "Just gonna grab a cotton ball to clean the skin near the wound that isn't bandaged."

Damian's voice sounded strangled. "Very well."

Once clean, Damian consented to be dressed in pajama pants and helped into the bed. The frame was high enough that even his long legs needed to hop a little to sit on the mattress. He winced as he scooted across the sheets.

Tim fussed with the pillows, piling them to lessen Damian's chances of rolling over on the hurt shoulder in his sleep, and to keep the wound elevated above his heart. The cats started warbling in protest outside the closed door halfway through the process, so he let them in. Alfred chirped at him till Tim lifted him up to the mattress, but Pennyworth and Kent leapt up to press comfortingly against Damian’s shins.

"There," Tim said once they and the pillows lay in the right configuration. "That's decent. Can I get you anything else before I leave?"

Damian looked at him askance. "What do you mean, 'leave?'"

Tim frowned, confused. "I have work so I need to get to sleep? Plus you need rest so I wanted to clear out and let you get it."

"Ah." Damian lifted his chin, expression once again remote. "You may leave. If I require anything else I'll notify Father."

Tim nodded. Damian didn't need to know he'd be spending the night in his old bedroom on the opposite end of the hallway. Just in case.

Before he got halfway to the door, Damian's irritated words stopped him in his tracks. "What makes you think I need you to 'clear out' in order to rest? I have been trained since toddlerhood to obtain sleep under the most challenging of circumstances. Your presence couldn't possibly undo my abilities."

Tim started to reply, paused, and then jerked his head back in realization. Pivoting back to face Damian, he asked, "Dami?"

Damian scowled at him, but his fingers plucked at the gold thread of his bedspread. "What is it?"

"Would you like me to stay here with you?" Damian swallowed, and Tim thought, too late, I should've phrased it in a way that let him save face.

Damian surprised him again, though. He dropped his gaze and said, "It would be a prudent decision, considering I am recovering from a gunshot wound and the subsequent blood loss."

"Okay." Tim stepped toward him, then back again. "I just need to run to my old room to get some stuff. I'll be right back."

He dashed down the hallway, snatched up his spare toothbrush and some pajamas, and ran back to Damian's room again. Damian was asleep by the time he closed the door behind him again. His eyes slitted open like his cats’ when Tim started walking toward the bathroom.

"Go back to sleep," Tim whispered. "I'll join you as soon as I'm clean."

He took one of the fastest showers of his life. Something that lived adjacent to that grabby thing in his psyche preened in satisfaction when he stepped out of the water smelling like Damian's bath gel and shampoo. Once he dressed and brushed his teeth, Tim padded out of the bathroom and toward the bed once more. Fresh with the temporary alertness of his shower, he had to resist the urge to go lift the cover on the easel and check out Damian’s latest painting. 

Damian woke as he watched and inched backwards so Tim could join him, ignoring Alfred’s trill of protest. One hand reached across the mattress, grasping at the sheet like he was trying to grab Tim but couldn’t quite reach him. Tim’s chest immediately turned to goo at the gesture.

“Don’t worry, Dami, I’m here.” He lifted the blankets and joined Damian, lying on his back.

Moving with caution, Damian edged closer until he could rest his head on Tim’s outstretched arm. Almost instantly, all his muscles relaxed into Tim’s side. Tim smiled as his head grew heavy where it lay on Tim’s bicep.

“There you go.” He kissed the top of Damian’s head and caressed his hair with his free hand. “Get some sleep, sweetheart.”

***

The next night, Tim dropped in to check on Damian in person, not trusting either Dick’s or Bruce’s assessment of his well-being. Sure enough, he found Damian flushed with fever and striding around the library at full speed, examining the shelves.

“Damian.” Tim grabbed the elbow of his unhurt arm and stopped him in his tracks. “You're obviously fighting off an infection. What's so important that it can't wait for you to rest?”

A muscle in Damian’s jaw spasmed with frustration. “I can’t find a copy of Al-Kunūz al-fannīyah fī al-rumūz al-Maymūnīyah in the original Arabic. I know it used to be here and now it's disappeared and I know it must be Todd who took it if it’s gone but he denies it and I—”

“Hey, hey.” Tim slid his hand up to squeeze the back of Damian’s neck. Damian heaved a gusty sigh and hung his head, eyes closing in defeat. “It’s okay. Let me help you. Here, sit down and I'll look, all right?”

Damian collapsed into a suede wingback chair, confirming beyond any doubt how wretched he was feeling. The cats promptly swarmed into his lap, complaining vocally about having been deprived of their preferred seating for so long.

Tim looked through the shelves in the right section and surrounding areas carefully, but he didn't see the title. They all were fanatical about returning the books to their proper places thanks to Alfred’s stringent training, so he didn't think it could be anywhere else.  “You’re right. It's not here. I'm ordering a copy online.” He pulled out his phone and did just that, after looking through a couple of international book dealers. 

“Guess what I did find, though?” He waggled a copy of Ghabat al-haqq in Damian’s direction. Damian gave an impatient “tt” and Tim smiled. “I know. But at least it's the same author. How about you sit there and I read to you?”

“Very well,” Damian allowed, with more grace than Tim had expected. 

Tim sat on the loveseat opposite him and began to read. At the end of the first page, he glanced up to find Damian sitting bolt upright, gazing at him in what looked like shock.

“What is it?” Tim looked down at the flowing script, rereading quickly. “Did I butcher the pronunciation of something? I'm not super good at Arabic yet and I've mainly learned fus’ha, so it's probably annoying for me to read this. Sorry.”

“No, I—” Damian closed his mouth, swallowed, and continued carefully, “I hadn't realized you spoke it so fluently. Your pronunciation is adequate.” A pause, then, as reluctantly as if Tim held him at gunpoint: “I enjoy listening to you read.”

“Oh!” The tops of Tim’s ears blazed with heat. “I, uh—should I keep going?”

Damian nodded, relaxing into the depths of his chair. “Yes.”

By the time Tim got to the fifth page Damian’s eyes drifted shut, and he only read four more pages before the first soft snore interrupted him.

A text from Cassandra vibrated his phone. How's Damian?

Tim shook his head. How had she known he'd be with Damian? He typed, he's grouchy feverish etc all the things u wd expect 

Recovering though?

Tim snapped a picture of Damian drowsing and sent it with promise u will delete

She sent back a heart and I promise. Okay if I tell Stephanie what you told me?

Tim tapped his phone against his chin, considering, then shrugged. sure

He fell asleep on the loveseat, and by the time they both woke up it made more sense to spend the night again.

The following night Bruce and Tim were on patrol, so it proved convenient to return Redbird to the Cave and see if Damian was asleep yet. He was, but he blinked awake as soon as Tim approached his bed.

“How're you doing?” Tim whispered.

Damian gave Tim an unguarded smile that warmed him like firelight. “Better now you are here.”

Well, if Tim had been looking for proof he'd taken his Vicodin, that response would have provided it. He'd planned on going back to the Nest, but Damian’s words made him waver. “I could stay,” he offered, heart in his throat.

Damian said nothing, but moved to leave one side of the mattress available and pulled the covers back. Tim leaned over and kissed his forehead. “I'll shower and join you.”

While he waited for the water to run hot, a text came through from a number he didn't recognize. How's the baby bat?

Jason’s latest burner, then. When had the others decided he was the Damian news source? Though, considering how taciturn both Bruce and Damian could be, he guessed it was a logical conclusion. If they knew he and Damian were together, anyway. 

ok, he replied. gonna spend the night at the manor keep an eye on him

Jason texted back, Make sure that’s all you keep on him, Timmers. 🚫🍆💦🍆🙅‍♂️

Tim rolled his eyes and didn't bother with an answer. The most Damian was up for right now was the occasional kiss, and even then he sometimes looked a little dizzy afterward.

The third night, Dick texted him as he was driving home. hey Tim can you check on Dami tonight? I know it's out of your way and I'm sorry but I don't trust him or Bruce when it comes to taking care of himself and I know he's been working full days at the office. I'd do it myself but I've got things I need to take care of closer to home like our mutual friend.

So Katarina needed help with something. Considering they'd upended her whole life again, Tim didn't begrudge her Dick’s presence. yeah sure no problem i was going to call him but i can go by

A long pause. Tim waited to see what the response would be. He had a theory that Damian couldn't hide much from Dick, or at least not for long.

Finally, Dick texted back, Thanks! I really appreciate it. So clearly with the lack of follow up questions, he suspected something was going on. Tim considered just telling him but rejected it when a wave of nausea splashed through his gut. Damian could handle that conversation when he felt ready.

By the fourth night, Tim gave in and packed a bag to supplement what supplies he still had at the Manor. He hadn’t realized how empty the house was without Alfred to make it a home. Something about Damian only having Bruce’s accusing terseness for company rubbed him the wrong way.

“Hey,” he greeted Damian as he entered the room.

Damian, currently balancing a sketchbook on Pennyworth’s back while he lounged in an armchair, set down his pencil and gave him a guarded nod, eyes fixed on the suitcase in Tim’s hand. “Hello.”

Tim laid the suitcase on the bed, opened it, and crossed to the walk-in closet. “Did you already have dinner?” he called over his shoulder as he pushed Damian’s clothes over to clear some space for his own.

“I haven't, no. You?”

Tim emerged clutching a half-dozen hangers. “Nope. Order in or cereal?”

Damian scoffed. “None of us can expect to operate without more protein than that. The new vegan place near the airport has an acceptable range of options. I'll put in an order now.”

Tim started buttoning his shirts’ collars around the hangers. “Sounds good. Get me something fried, please.”

“As you wish.” Damian began typing on his phone while walking away.

When Tim carried his toiletries to the bathroom, it was to find Damian’s belongings mysteriously relocated to a single side of the sink.

On the eleventh morning, Tim awoke groggy, still recovering from the work week and Friday night patrol, which always had an extra flair in Gotham. The cats were gone for once, having deserted the room when Tim opened the door to come to bed. Damian curled around him, the sleeping big spoon, and his morning wood pressed against Tim’s ass. Tim couldn’t stop himself from rolling his hips back to return the pressure. His hand was no substitute for sex with Damian, but he hadn’t wanted to ask when the other was clearly not feeling up to par. 

Damian gave a sleepy groan. His grip on Tim’s arm tightened as he thrust against him—and then loosened again with a sharp inhale. He’d hurt himself with the unwary movement.

Tim rolled over with caution to face him. “Good morning.”

Damian’s face was pale, but the slight smile he offered carried genuine warmth. “Good morning.”

Tim smiled back. “This,” he dropped one hand to palm Damian’s erection through his shorts, “seems hopeful.”

Damian’s eyelids fluttered in response to the caress. “Sleeping with you without sex as a component is all very well, but less satisfactory since I’ve been feeling better.” He made to reach for Tim but thoughtlessly moved the hurt arm and froze.

“Looks like most of that blood transfusion isn’t making it to your brain,” Tim teased, scooting closer. “Here, let me take care of you. Roll over onto your back, on the pillows so you’re propped up. Lift your hips up for me.”

Damian obeyed, angling his hips to allow Tim to pull off his shorts and underwear. Once naked, he reached for Tim once more, this time with more caution, but Tim caught his wrist with gentle fingers. “Not so fast. You only get to watch.”

Damian’s eyebrows converged in consternation. “But—”

“No buts, Dami. I’ll make you feel good, I promise. Just trust me.” Tim ran his fingertips up Damian’s length as he spoke, watching with fascination as it twitched beneath them, leaking a few drops of precome. Damian flinched and whimpered, already panting. “You’re so responsive to my touch. Look at you, coming undone before I’ve even started touching you.” He ducked, sucking at just the tip, lapping into the slit as he stroked the rest with a loose grip. Pulling off, he added, “It’s really fucking hot.”

He stood to strip in front of Damian’s avid gaze. Before he could ask, Damian said, “I’ve got lube in the nightstand drawer, there. Condoms too.”

Tim got the lube and a condom out and climbed back on the bed, kneeling between Damian’s outstretched legs. He poured the lube into his palm. “I’m gonna get myself ready for you.” He started with one finger just to tease, throwing his head back and groaning as it breached his entrance. “Oh fuck. It feels so good, Dami. I’ve missed having you inside me.”

Damian grabbed the sheets beside him as if he needed an anchor. His voice came out cracked. “I’ve missed—" He cleared his throat. “I’ve missed being there.”

Tim dropped his gaze to fix him with a lazy smile, adding another finger at the same time. “Yeah? You been getting off without me? Tell me more.”

But Damian shook his head, eyes tracking every movement of Tim’s, a hunter deprived of the opportunity to capture. “I haven’t felt well enough to follow through till this morning.”

Tim had to pause to lean on his clean hand and kiss him on the mouth. He just . . . had to. One kiss turned into another, and another, until he shuffled his knees beneath him again and kept kissing Damian while he continued opening himself up. It wasn’t easy, but he managed. Amazing how motivational sheer horniness could be.

Damian tore his mouth free and tried to move it to Tim’s chin, but Tim jerked back and put his free hand on Damian’s chest to hold him down. “I told you no,” he said, all stern rebuke, then grabbed the lube bottle to pour more on his fingers. “Be good or you won't get what you want.”

Damian let his head fall back, suitably cowed. “I–I promise I’ll be good.”

Tim had to stop moving and close his eyes because his entire body caught on fire. Or, at least, he was pretty sure it had, but he couldn’t look because that would involve opening his eyes and seeing Damian choosing to obey him and he might die. Or come. Whatever.

A few deep breaths later and he felt safe to look again, though he avoided Damian’s face and instead focused on his cock. “Okay, I’m gonna just—" He ripped open the condom and slid it on while Damian quivered, aborted movements just barely checked.

“Drake,” he whined. “This is unfair.”

Tim couldn’t resist kissing his forehead, and that meant he also couldn’t resist kissing down to one damp temple, then over to the other, then his mouth again. Damian parted his lips at the first glancing touch like he was starved for the taste of him. Tim sighed into the kiss and let him suck on his tongue.

He pulled back and kissed the tip of Damian’s nose after a minute. “Frustration looks good on you.” He swung one leg over Damian’s lap, straddling him and reaching back to take his cock in hand. “I think you look even better under me. Let me ride you.”

Damian nodded, still watching him with that predatory focus.

Tim sank down, inch by inch, always a little surprised at the amount of stretch Damian’s hardness required. He had to remind himself to keep breathing as his body opened up. At last, his ass rested flush with Damian’s hips. 

“Oh fuck,” he whispered, rocking in place just to enjoy feeling this full. 

Damian moaned in response. His head lolled back against the dark oaken headboard. His hands had gone limp and his shoulders relaxed. Only the rapid rise and fall of his chest gave away his arousal.

The power he’d surrendered set Tim alight with satisfaction. “Fuck, Damian, you’re so good.” Damian whined again, eyelids heavy with lust. “Look at you, holding so still for me just because I told you to.” He leaned his head onto Damian’s unhurt shoulder, struggling for control. “Can’t believe you let me do this,” he mumbled into the soft warmth at the crook of Damian’s neck.

Damian turned his head and nuzzled him. “You’ll reward me, won’t you?”

The warm affection in his tone turned Tim’s bones to liquid. “Of course I will, sweetheart,” he managed to reply. “You’ve earned it.”

He leaned back onto his hands and started swiveling his hips, rather than lifting up and down in a motion that would probably jar Damian’s wound. Damian groaned in response, but stayed stock-still while Tim did all the work.

He trusts me so much, Tim suddenly realized, and the revelation hit him in his brain, heart, and dick, too many feelings to process all at once. He had to jolt forward and hide his face in Damian’s neck again. 

The sudden movement seemed to take Damian by surprise; he gave a shout like he’d been punched in the gut and his cock throbbed with his orgasm. Tim couldn’t wait anymore and grasped his own erection, rutting against Damian’s abs while he fucked into his fist until he came all over Damian’s belly.

They breathed against each other for a timeless space, heedless of the mess between them. At last, though, Tim had to lift himself free before the condom couldn’t do its job anymore. He took care of it, then went to the bathroom to get a warm washcloth and a towel so he could clean up Damian too.

“Mm,” Damian said, watching Tim dry off his groin. “Can we go back to sleep again?”

Tim hesitated, keeping his gaze glued to his task. He should do more casework, find out where Falcone had gone to ground, finish setting up a new identity for Katarina, check in again on the people they’d freed. But if he got up and started doing all that, Damian would feel obligated to do the same, and he really needed his rest to fully recover.

“Yeah. That sounds good.”

He took the washcloth back to the bathroom and rinsed it out, then returned to cuddle up into Damian’s side. The world wouldn’t go to hell if they rested for another hour. Probably.

days 105-108 here

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #106 (Week 2 of year 3):

“Three great abstract artists died in 1944: Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Hilma von Klint”.

Even though it’s only the second week of January, I already discovered one of my favorite documentaries of 2023: Beyond The Visible - Hilma af Klint. Like Vivian Maier, Hilma was a female genius who lived in obscurity her whole life and left behind a body of work that equals and surpasses most of her contemporaries. Discovered 70 years after her death, she is now considered perhaps Sweden’s most important artist - ever. This astounding biography details her groundbreaking legacy, as well as her extraordinary life. The first abstract artist of the modern area, all her 2,500 painting and voluminous notebooks of 250,000 pages miraculously remained intact. She was also a mystic, a spiritualist, a feminist and a vegetarian. Until our age, history was busy erasing all traces of female participation from its re-telling. Hers is one happy reversal.(Slideshow Above).

I saw an exhibition of her large canvases at the Tel Aviv Museum in 2019 and they were awe-inspiring. 10/10. 

🍿

High maintenance, another biographical documentary. About the great Israeli sculptor and environmental artist Dani Karavan, known for his large site-specific monuments. It followed him around before his death at 90, as he travels to some European locations of his earlier, magnificent memorials, and as he re-assess his art. An uncompromising and head-strong artist with angry political views who had no patience for fools or fascists. He was also dealing with declining acuity and memory loss during that time. With Wim Wenders. The opening scene. 7/10.

🍿

Hit the road, an unforgettable Iranian road movie written and directed by Panah Panahi, Jafar Panahi’s son, in his feature debut. There are four people driving, but we don’t know who they are or where they are going and why. One of them is a precarious six-year old, the driver does not speak much, and the parents behave strangely. Slowly we discover more about them, but the background story goes unexplained.

It’s best to watch this without knowing more. By the heartbreaking end we are completely captivated. The trailer discloses too much.

The acting of the little boy is probably one of the best child acting I’ve ever seen. 9/10 - Best film of the week.

🍿 

"...Even with my eyes wide open, I can't see anything..."

Zaitochi is a traveling blind swordsman, one of Japan’s longest film series. The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003) is my first Zaitochi film, and my third by actor-director Takeshi Kitano. A tribute to the Samurai films of the 60′s, it is full of rivers of blood spraying all over whenever somebody is stabbed and killed, which is all the time. Also, including a subplot of a cross-dressing, maybe trans, geisha. It ends with a joyful and lengthy community tap dancing party.

🍿

First watch: “Tony, do you ever think about death? - Fuck off!”

The coming of age British Billy Elliot about an 11-year-old coal miner’s son who discovers that he loves ballet. A period piece about class, grief & masculinity. The boy who play Billy was wonderful. 9/10.

🍿

Another first watch: Before Sunrise, the first part of Richard Linklater’s ‘Before Trilogy’. A romantic story of two young people who meet on a train bound for Vienna. An interesting, minimalist concept that I didn’t love, because I couldn’t feel the connection between immature cynic Ethan Hawke and stereotypical-‘sweet’ French blond Julie Delpy. I wish they were played by other people. I will watch an updated version of this with more persuasive actors. Should I watch the other two parts?

🍿

2 by Zhang Yimou:

🍿 Raise the red lantern, the epic saga from the Chinese Warlord Era, tells a tragic story of a young ‘fourth Mistress’ to a very wealthy patriarch. The magnificent Gong Li and the other three concubines cannot leave the palace. They must wait each in their own opulent quarters until the master of the house (whose face is never seen) calls on the one he chooses to spend the night with. Restrained, tradition-bound and transgressive. 8/10. 

🍿 So I wanted to revisit a couple more of Yimou’s masterpieces, ‘Red Sorghum’, or ‘Qiu Ju’ or ‘To live’. Unfortunately, I picked instead his first English-language film The Great Wall, thinking, well, it was co-written by Tony Gilroy, it co-starred Andy Lau and Willem Dafoe, it was the most expensive Chinese movie ever produced, Etc. But it was a horrible disappointment. It’s a weak cartoon fantasy for young males about two mercenary amigos fighting an army of millions CGI alien monsters. Part of the trend to create spectacular Hollywood blockbusters which cater to the Chinese marketplace, the movie made $335 million and still lost money. 1/10 piece of shit. That’s why I don’t like and don’t watch special effect action movies.

🍿

2 by Ernst Lubitsch:

🍿 “Pure hooey!…”

Design for Living, a pre-code screwball comedy about - let’s face it - an explicit a ménage à trois between bohemian Gary Cooper, Fredric March, and Miriam Hopkins. That Hopkins was a modern, open-minded woman who wants to love and have sex with both men was a rarity and a delight.

🍿 His classic romantic comedy The shop around the corner, the original concept used later in ‘You’ve got mail’. It’s interesting how much appeal was there in Hollywood of that time to wax nostalgic about Austro-Hungarian life, and the reverence toward the class of the shopkeeper, aka, business owner .

🍿

Miss April ("Fröken April”), a lighter-than-air Swedish comedy from 1958 directed not by Ingmar Bergman but by one Göran Gentele. It features some venerable actors like Jan Kulle, Per Oscarsson and especially Gunnar Björnstrand who stars as an aristocratic, stuffy older banker (who, let’s face it, never “been in love” i.e. “never had sex”) and who falls for a cute, young ballet dancer. Silly & childish, and as enjoyable as a trip down memory lane to a sunny world that doesn’t exist any more. 7/10.

🍿 

2 with Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam:

🍿 The original Hitchcockian 1962 Cape fear, with a sinister score by Bernard Herrmann. An uncomfortable story of threat and terror. The word “rape” and the act itself were not explicitly seen, but strongly felt as the middle class fear that a crazed psychotic sexual stalker is coming for our young daughters. 5/10.

🍿 Rabid Martin Scorsese made the 1991 Cape Fear remake more menacing, his buff, tattooed rapist Max Cady more maniacal and the whole story much more sadistic. The best element for me was the re-done score, and the anti-lawyers message. 4/10.

🍿

Assholes: A Theory, a Canadian documentary film, based on a book by professor of philosophy Aaron James. An asshole "allows himself to enjoy special advantages in social relations out of an entrenched sense of entitlement that immunizes him against the complaints of other people." Even though it was made in 2019, and touched upon many political, sociological & psychological trends, it didn’t mention even once the biggest asshole of them all.

🍿

The Matador, an unconvincing crime thriller starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear. An unlikely friendship between two vastly different men, a milquetoast middle-class salesman and a burnt-out assassin who meet at a hotel bar in Mexico City. A male fantasy of what a life of a contract hit man is. 4/10.

🍿

4 Vimeo-type Shorts:

🍿 In Ruby, an elderly Irish couple, Len and Ruby, celebrate their 40th anniversary. Len has a history of of odd and outlandish gifts. Ruby hopes that this year will be different and that he'll arrange something "nice and normal".

🍿Sister, a different, Oscar-Nominated Stop-Motion Animation by young Chinese director Siqi Song. About being a single child. The figures are made out of wool.

🍿 “If Tuvsho was a superhero, this would be her origin story." I Am Tuvsho, a short Mongolian documentary about a female sumo wrestler.

🍿 School Portrait, Directed by Nick Scott, about a school photographer in a bad mood.

🍿

Bobcat Goldthwait’s satirical indie World's Greatest Dad started well but ended in a mess. Robin Williams is an amateur novelist with a rotten teenager son. But then this sex-obsessed, nasty kid auto-asphyxiate while masturbating, and father covers it up as a ‘regular’ suicide. What a perverted premise. Too bad it didn’t work. 3/10

🍿

After discovering Coraline last week, I decided to watch the parody of it on The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror XXVIII (29S 4E). Somehow edgy (because of Halloween?...). Including similar parodies of The Exorcist, Sausage party, and self-cannibalism trops. Alrighty then!

🍿  

Throw-back to the art project:

Chinese princess (还珠格格 HuanZhuGeGe) Adora

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

[josephmfish]

Shocking FIA Drama Unfolds: Total Chaos & Explosive Revelations! | F1 News

https://ift.tt/1TcgINP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-8-GlFLG34 Shocking FIA Drama Unfolds: Total Chaos & Explosive Revelations! | F1 News Get ready for the most jaw-dropping drama in FIA history! From explosive revelations to unexpected twists, the latest scandal has left the F1 world in shock. What’s really going on behind the scenes? Don’t miss the shocking details that are shaking up motorsport like never before! _______________________________________________________________ Videos about Formula 1 News Written, voiced and produced by Formula 1 Live Subscribe for more Formula 1 News _______________________________________________________________ Copyright Disclaimers • Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act states: “Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.” • We use images and content in accordance with the YouTube Fair Use copyright guidelines _______________________________________________________________ #Formula1 #F1 #F1Live from Formula 1 Live https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc7MQ5710t9YZb1wMYZxadw via Formula 1 Live https://ift.tt/1Qyh7mZ November 18, 2024 at 05:19AM

[bustyasianbeautiespod]

Episode 106 Transcript: Vroom Vroom Bitches It’s Impala Time!

[intro guitar music]

G: Hello, it's Grey.

C: Hello, it's Crystal.

G: And this is Busty Asian Beauties, a Supernatural commentary podcast where I, someone who has seen the show many times...

C: And I, someone who only knows the show through social media, discuss every single episode of Supernatural from start to finish. Also, we are both Asian.

G: Both Asian! For today's episode, we will be discussing Season 6, Episode 2: "Two and a Half Men," written by Adam Glass, directed by John Showalter. This was aired in October 1, 2010.

C: This is the first Adam Glass.

G: Yeah. Adam Glass wrote many episodes, none of them I can defend. [laughing]

C: I honestly think this one was fine.

G: Um, I don't know. I would say it's incredibly boring.

C: Really? Interesting. What was boring about it?

G: Very much so. I don't know. I think I was just going through a knitting slump, honestly, [laughing] while I was watching this episode.

C: Yeah, I mean, there was a baby on screen that was cute. I feel like that's enough to retain my interest.

G: Yeah. Love a cute baby. But like, I don't know. I feel like it's just- it's a little bit flat. We're still at the part of the season where we're building up to things, and I feel like because the last season we were in, Season 5, in case we forgot how to count, [C laughs] we start the season running, you know? 'Cause it's Season 4 and Season 5. They're like so continuous. But I feel like Season 6 really had to start from scratch, obviously. New showrunner, new concept, new core, blah blah blah, but it feels so like, slow... and boring... eugh. Maybe when Cas shows up.

C: You want the larger plot to be part of it more?

G: It's not that I want the larger plot. It's just I want things to pick up a little bit because, like, you know, "Oh, Sam's so suspicious, and Dean's so sad that he has to leave Lisa and Ben." Like, okay, we get it. [laughs]

C: Yeah, it's true. [G laughs] Sam's literally normal and fine and a nice person.

G: No, it's so funny, because in the flashbacks that they do for this Episode 2, in the "Then" sequence, he's literally- they only show the scenes where he was acting completely normal. [C laughs] And in this episode, he's also completely normal. He's normal! So yeah, I don't know.

C: Yeah, I'm assuming that he starts acting more soulless once that gets revealed?

G: That he is actually soulless? Yeah. [C: He's fully normal.] When he starts working out. Showing his pecs off and stuff.

C: Yeah. [laughs] That's when you know.

G: That's when you know. You're like, "Nah. Sam's not here." [laughs] That's Jared Padalecki.

C: Yeah, that's Jared Padalecki, also known as soulless Sam Winchester.

G: Exactly. Well, what did you know about this episode before going in? Can I take a guess? Obviously, you knew about Bobby John.

C: I knew about Bobby John. I didn't know what episode Bobby John would be in.

G: Yeah. I knew it was this. [C: He's the half man.] I think it's one of the things I remember the most in Season 6. [laughs] Like, if I were to list things I remember from Season 6, I would say the entirety of "The Man Who Would be King," fisting scene, [C: Yes.] Bobby John, Sam working out. [laughs] That's it.

C: Is that from "spin me right 'round" or something?

G: Yeah, I love that AMV. Let's reblog it. It's so wonderful. [C laughs] There's a part in that AMV where he turns around, like, it's different shots of him turning around, and in one of them, his like, boob like, does the thing. [C: Mm.] You know what I mean, right? [C: Yeah.] The little- I don't know. What is it called? He flexes his pecs or whatever. [C: Yeah.] And it's fine. [both laugh]

C: What?

G: No, because I was gonna say, "And it's beautiful!" But in the last minute, I was like, "We need to be honest with ourselves." [C laughs] So I said, "It's fine."

C: Okay. Yeah.

G: What else did you know about this episode?

C: Like, nothing. I just didn't know what it was. [G: Yeah.] I was assuming the parts where Dean's like, "Oh, and I've been acting like a prison guard, and that's not how I am. That's what my daddy was like!" Like, I've seen screenshots of that.

G: It felt very much like that scene in- Is it The Nice Guys? The one with Ryan Gosling? where he was like, "You're not a murderer!"

C: You're acting like I've seen this.

G: No, but at some point, he's telling this woman who admitted to killing people or something. He's like, "You're not a murderer!" and the cop's like, "She literally killed people." And he goes, "I mean, on the inside." [C laughing] That's the Dean situation right now. I also- what is it? I mean, surely you have also seen- the baby parts, obviously, but also the parts with Baby, the car.

C: What part?

G: When he fucking disrobes her or whatever.

C: Oh. Sure, yeah, probably that's been in an AMV. I just assume he's done that several times in his life. It's a pretty generic-looking image.

G: That's literally in the clicky AMV.

C: Oh, then, that's definitely on me for not recognizing it. I'm so sorry.

G: You know that part where Bobby goes, "And what are we supposed to do, genius?" [laughs] Like the AMV maker cut it so that the parts where it's Bobby's face that's on camera, [both laughing] they cut to the car. It's amazing. Love that AMV. Truly an iconic piece of art, and it should be in the MoMA.

C: The Library of Congress?

G: I said the MoMA. You're not listening to me!

C: I didn't hear it. I didn't hear it. I'm so sorry.

G: Well, sure, let's put it in the Library of Congress, also.

-

G: So we start with the episode "Then" sequence. I mean, it's just regular stuff. They just introduced what they fucking said last episode, except [laughs] we see Dean's best friend that he just let go in the fucking- did you see that? Did you catch that at all?

C: Oh, no! Was he in there briefly when they were explaining what a shapeshifter was?

G: Yeah, I think so. Or maybe that's a different guy, but it's the same episode. But I remember him, and I cherish him.

C: Just like Dean did, but failed to do enough.

G: This is true. That is still so funny. Why did they do that slow-mo shot?

C: [laughs] I don't know.

G: "Nooo!" [C laughing] And it's like, completely silent. Do you remember this? They like, mute all audio. [both laugh] Supernatural used to be good. Look where we are now. Feeling nostalgic about the best friend that Dean fucking can't let go or whatever. [C: Yeah.]

We start the episode in actually a pretty banger sequence where it's a house, and it's just typical background, and then suddenly, an incredibly bloody hand shoots up into the screen and like, you know, there's a lot of commotion. She's carrying a baby, and she's running through the house, and then she ends up hiding inside a room and getting under the bed. And there's scenes where she thinks the person who's hunting her down or whatever is going to enter the room, but then doesn't and doesn't. And then she turns to the side, and her husband is dead. This is a pretty good opener, I would say. Like it's very like, scream-scream horror. Is that a thing?

C: I don't know, man. [laughs] [G: I don't know.] Scream is a franchise. I don't know if it's a genre. I don't think I've heard it.

G: No, you know what I mean, right, though. It's like very horror that's like gaudy horror. I'm sure Danica has words for this, but I don't. [C: Yeah.] Shout out. And then she gets dragged out of the bed, and there's just a baby there that's like lying in there. [C: Yeah. It's been chillaxing.] Poor baby! The baby literally DGAF.

C: Yeah. She kept covering its mouth with her hand, which was covered in blood, and like, [laughs] couldn't you have used like, a part later down on your arm that wasn't covered in blood? [G laughs] Like, you don't want the baby to cry. I feel like making it taste blood is not the move. They can't even drink water!

G: [laughs] Literally.

-

C: So we cut to the Lisa household, and they have moved since the last episode because of Dean's fear that things are hunting them. And Dean's like, settling in. He has the Impala covered by a tarp in the garage, and there's guns and shit in it like always. So they're doing all the unpacking together with Lisa and Ben, and Ben's finally speaking for the first time in the season! [laughs]

G: Happy speaking!

C: Lisa asks, "What's up?" and he says, "Nothing." Hell yeah! [laughs] But yeah, generally-

G: Honestly, I do like the characterization of Ben and Lisa this episode. Do you agree? Disagree? Thoughts?

C: I liked the character- Okay. I think them together is fine and good. I think that- with Lisa, it's not that there are things that they wrote for her to say that I want to take away. I just want them to add more things for it to be good.

G: Yeah, I actually quite like the Lisa parts. I can't help sometimes but think that like, "What are they trying to do?" And I think my main concern is that her character- I think they're trying to do something with her, but everything that they're trying to do with her is tied to Dean, [C: Right.] which like, this is Supernatural. That's an old complaint, but it just makes me uncomfortable, I guess, because the way her character has been established, and the way her character has been blah blah, I don't know. There is just something to the concept of one of- We have two women in this season so far, you know, that was like, a presence this season. And it's Lisa and the woman in the thing that I don't know the name of. I don't know a single one of their names.

C: Gwen Campbell?

G: Is that her name? Well, yeah. And I don't know, it still feels a lot like, "Oh, we have a woman." [both laugh] You know what I mean? [laughs]

C: Yeah, but who knows?

G: Allegedly, I don't like misogyny. [both laugh]

C: Alleged by you, yeah. I just think that Lisa feels very rootless. Like, Dean's like, "Oh, and I'm parenting like this because of my dad." Like, what were Lisa's parents like?

G: That's a very good term for it. Yeah, she feels like she has no past.

C: Yeah, like she was here-

G: - just for Dean's life in the world to come, not the world that was, yeah.

C: Yeah. And like, she has a personality and a spirit in the scenes that she's in, and I like her presence and her energy. But yeah, I don't think she has a past, and I think you need to have a past to seem like a real person in some contexts.

G: Yeah. It's not about her. It's what the show keeps on trying to point out heavily.

C: Yeah. So the idea is that Ben's unhappy that they just had to up and move. Makes perfect sense. And Lisa's trying to be positive and cheer him up about it. And Ben and Lisa want to go out, want to explore the neighborhood, and Dean's being very cagey about everything, but it's very clear that he does not want them to leave the house. And he tells Ben, like, "Why are you going outside? You're gonna let Lisa unpack the kitchen all by herself?" And then when Ben's like, "Okay," he's like, "Okay, now me and Ben are gonna head out to a different room."

G: "And Lisa is gonna pack things up by herself." [C laughs] [C: Yep.] What did they do? What was Dean and Ben up to?

C: I'm not sure. I mean, maybe they were gonna unpack the kitchen. Maybe there were just more boxes to bring.

G: Yeah, they're just gonna pick up boxes. I mean, later, the scene where Ben is like, playing with the guns are like, it's like a separate scene, so it's not really that. Maybe they were just gonna pick up boxes.

C: Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry for accusing both of you of not helping Lisa unpack the kitchen.

-

G: Yeah. Now we go to the crime scene, and Sam is there. And honestly, when he picked up his phone and he started talking in his FBI suit, I did smile. You know, at the end of the movie, when things have been resolved and the main characters see each other again, and they share a smile or whatever [C: Yeah.], just like in Carol, that's how I felt. [both laugh] Like, I was like, "We're back. We're so back." I love a case episode. This one just doesn't hit it. I think just because it's not Sam and Dean, you know? I love a case episode that's like normal-schnormal case episode, but I guess this one isn't that. But I still love a case. And like, seeing Sam picking up the phone and being like, "Oh, here's the updates on the case." It's like, "Oh, love Supernatural!" [C laughs]

C: Yeah. I think how this suffers as a case episode is just that they put, "And, reminder! This is what a shapeshifter is!" in the "Then" sequence, and they spent so long this episode being like, "And we don't even know what this creature might be!" [G: Oh, yeah.] And it's like, well, I know, 'cause I saw the "Then" sequence. Sorry that you didn't see the "Then" sequence, but I did.

G: Yeah. It's a team effort. And they did not coordinate. [C: Yeah.] Sam is like, talking to the detective about like, "Where's the baby?" but they don't know where the baby is. We reveal a little bit later that like, this has been going on for a while. It's like multiple houses getting babies taken. Sam relays this information to Samuel, and honestly, I frowned. Like, that smile, [C laughs] that beatific smile that I was doing when Sam was investigating completely disappeared upon seeing this man's face. And he's saying that like, "Oh, we don't know what it is, so maybe it's just normal-schnormal people." And Sam eventually finds the fucking logo of the security company that does the security of the house, and he asked Samuel to go check it out. And then there's an interesting part here where Samuel tells Sam that like, "Oh, maybe it's just normal people." And Sam's like, "Okay, well, let's just leave it to the police." And Samuel was like, "Nooo! It's still like, bad. Whoever is doing the killing of the babies is bad nevertheless." And Sam like, does like a little like, "Ugh." [both laugh] Kind of real, man. [C laughing] This Sam's so real. I know he's supposed to be soulless this episode, but as we mentioned, he's literally fine.

C: Yeah. He really is fine.

G: I mean, it is the case we have been making in the past of like, you know, "It's about the blah blah blah blah blah blah." [laughs]

C: The case we've been making in the past is that it's about monsters and how they want to kill them or feel like they have a right to kill them rather than reducing harm in the world at large, [G: Yes.] that Samuel is addressing, correct.

G: Yeah. Beautiful translation. [C: Yeah.] And I don't know. But now, I'm like, "Go Sam!" [both laugh] If you don't wanna work, you don't wanna work! Let's go! [C: Yeah.]

We go back to Dean, and earlier, him and Lisa kind of agreed that they're going to scout around the place and look for somewhere to eat because, you know, Ben's been itchy to go outside, and he said yes, but then he orders pizza for the house. And when he turns around, Ben and Lisa are behind him, going like, "What the fuck? I thought we were gonna go out!" And he's like, "Oh, sorry I forgot!" [C laughs] He's acting a certain way.

-

C: Later, after lunch, presumably, Dean goes into the garage, and Ben is there by the Impala with the trunk open, holding his gun, and Dean freaks out, which I think makes sense. [G: Yeah.] And takes the gun from him-

G: - advocates for gun rights or whatever. Not gun rights. The other one. [laughs]

C: Gun wrongs?

G: Gun wrongs. He advocates for it. No, what is it? What is it called? [C: Oh!] Gun control. [C: Yeah, that one.] He advocates for gun control, yeah.

C: Yeah. So Ben is like, "Why are you freaking out so much? I just wanted to see this." And Dean is like, "Don't ever fucking open this trunk, dude." And Ben's like, "Well, I don't get it. Like, you had your own rifle when you were my age." How much does Ben know about Dean's childhood? [laughs] Like, he's been telling him?

G: He's telling Ben. I know, what is this?

C: It's fine. It has this weird-

G: I mean, honestly, I did appreciate that just for the reason that like, "Oh, they have conversations." [laughs] [C: Yeah.] They do talk, which is nice.

C: But yeah, Dean says, "Ben, mark my words. You will never, ever shoot a gun. Ever." And Ben says, like, "Well, okay. But thing is like, the reason that you're being all weird is that you think there's something coming for us. So I could just like, do what you do. You could teach me how to shoot." And Dean yells, "Shut up about the freaking gun, okay?!" And Ben starts- I don't know. He's upset and sad and feels like he's done something wrong, and he just keeps going, "Sorry. Sorry." Then he goes and locks himself in his room, and they play sad piano music [both laugh] about it. I think it's a decent scene, like basically all Supernatural scenes where they end up playing sad piano music, but the sad piano music makes it bad.

G: Do we have anything more to say about the Ben and Dean dynamic? Aside from like, it existing. [laughs]

C: The thing is, the show has already said- Dean turned to the camera and was like, "And it's like he's not my kid, but he is my kid." And Sam turned to the camera and was like, "And you're being just like Dad for real, Dean." Like, that's about it. [laughs]

G: Sorry, I completely forgot that we're in the show that just fully tells you the themes and motifs, sometimes terribly. [both laugh] Remember- I mean, obviously, it just happened a couple of weeks ago, but like the Season 5 finale is still insane to me the way [laughing] they ended with Chuck being like, "What is it about?" Kinda real.

C: Dean's still in the garage, and Lisa comes in and is like, "Hey, what happened? 'Cause I just heard from Ben that you yelled at him, and now he's really sad and upset." And Dean-

G: He's in the house playing sad piano music! What's that about? [C laughs]

C: Yeah. He's been locked in his room, where we put a piano, and he's been playing it, sadly.

G: Yeah, he was playing Shostakovich yesterday, and now he's just playing the fucking, Supernatural theme! [both laugh]

C: Why does she know what the Supernatural theme is? It is a TV show, according to “The French Mistake,” so. [G: Exactly.] Dean says, "Yeah, Ben didn't do anything." And Lisa goes, "What did you do?" And Dean goes, "He got into my tools. I shouldn't have gotten mad." And I don't know if that's a deliberate obfuscation of the fact that it was a gun, 'cause, I mean, he teaches Lisa how to load and shoot later, so she knows that he has guns in the house and in the Impala. I think he's just trying to quell any potential like- "Oh, this is regarding how we're in danger or whatever." But yeah.

G: I thought what you were gonna say is that he's trying to protect Ben. Because I feel like Lisa's also gonna get mad if he was like, "Ben, you were playing with guns."

C: Yeah, that's also possible. [G: Yeah.] But yeah. I mean, I feel like she might be able to deal with it in a way that was less yell-y, especially because Dean already did the yelling part. But Lisa asks, like, "Hey, you know, clearly something is up. You keep us in the house so much. Like, you should tell me what's going on." And Dean's saying, "I'm trying to keep us safe here." And she goes like, "I'm not arguing. You're the expert. It's just like, I'm just asking for an explanation. Like, what's up? Are we afraid of a specific monster or monsters in general?" Yeah, I mean, I do like her lines here. [G: Yeah.] Yeah.

G: I think, honestly, if I'm being honest, I really like their dynamic from Dean's perspective, right? Because like, I do think this kind of like stern but understanding thing is what Dean needs. Like, he needs someone who respects what he is and what his desires are. Happy bisexuality. [C laughs] But also like, "No, we can't do this." Like, you know, it's like, strict with what their boundaries are. Because Dean is- I feel like Dean is the type of person who needs to be told what needs to happen, and he needs also someone who can tell him that. And he has the instinct to respect those boundaries. Because I feel like in other times, he feels like he can cross it willy-nilly, or the boundaries are not there, and so he's finding it difficult. So I do think this is like, maybe Dean was right. Maybe if he was gonna live this kind of life long-term, it is gonna be with Lisa.

C: Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like that wasn't clear from the previous times that we saw her on TV.

G: Yeah, this is the first time that like, I'm engaging with it this way. The reason why I have a like a knee-jerk aversion to this is because again, we don't really get a lot of Lisa, just Lisa stuff, and so I like it from Dean's perspective, but like, I have no idea what Lisa's perspective is, and so I find it difficult to think of it as like a mutual or, you know, two-sided benevolent characterization. But I do think like- It does make me sad to think that like, yeah, Dean did have something good here, and he's about to lose it!

C: By memory wiping her?

G: By his boyfriend. Hell yeah! [both laugh] Love it!

C: I support gay rights and gay wrongs. Not this gay wrong, though. [G laughs] That's pretty fucked up.

G: Cas, get your shit together. [C laughs]

C: Yeah. Right, I guess from Lisa's perspective- 'Cause a lot of it is like, yeah, she's like, no bullshit, and like, she's not particularly upset or emotional by all these upheavals in her life, and that makes her like a good partner for Dean. [G: Yeah.] But like, I feel like the fact that she's so quickly like, "Okay. Okay." with all this makes it harder to connect to her. Like, I think she's portrayed as a character you want to be your girlfriend, not a character that you could be yourself, I think.

G: Yeah. Ah, okay, I get what you mean. Yeah yeah yeah. Like, they're writing her from Dean's perspective. [C: Yeah, yeah.] Like, "What does Dean need?" and "Okay, this is what he needs. Let's do it." I don't know. I am willing to extend, now more than ever, so much more benevolence and thought towards Lisa. So I'll refrain from badmouthing her a bit more, but.

C: That's fair. I mean, I do like her. I just wish that we had more.

G: Also, I mean, we talked about this last episode. It's such a mature relationship to the point of feeling, almost, having no attraction, [laughs] you know what I mean? [C: Yeah.] And that also sticks. I love it. [C: Yeah.] I do think this is what Dean needs. Like, he needs a relationship with not many- Like, Lisa obviously cares about him, like, very obviously, but  I don't think there is like that intense feeling of need for him to be around or like, you know, she doesn't feel betrayed by his actions, or at least not yet. Because Dean is such an intense person. You know what I mean. If he was in an intense relationship, it'd be crazier. If he was in a lesbian situationship, he'll just kill himself. [C laughs] I need to stop making "kill yourself" jokes. I need to stop doing it. I'm so sorry.  I just mean like, I don't know. If he was in a little bit more of a "The point is emotional investment, like the point is like, 'I love you,'" it would be, I think, a bit more difficult. But because the perspective now is, "This is my life," which is like, I think, just for Dean's type of person, it's a little more punchy. I like it better. [C: Yeah.] Also, I just think like Dean is not attracted to women that way. Do you think so?

C: What? What way?

G: Like, is he like, in love with women? What is he up to? What is Dean up to? What's going on?

C: What about Casie?

G: Yeah, but, like, I don't know. I think it's just a difference in terms of like, the duration. Because here- I mean, to be fair, this is like, the only really long-term relationship we see that Dean have, you know? So maybe it's it's unfair to generalize from this singular experience, but it's just a fascinating thing to see.

C: Yeah. And I also like that from Lisa's perspective, it's not that she's like passionately in love with him or that attracted to him in Season 6, either. It's sort of just a practical decision that she's making for the family in addition to caring about him.

G: Yeah, that's my point. I feel like if if Lisa was really into it in that way, Dean would be as well, but like, Dean feels like he is matching Lisa's energy, and because Lisa's energy is so like- it's a mature kind of approach to the relationship and their family, I think it just makes it a lot more healthy and makes sense for Dean. [C: Yeah.] If the scene later was portrayed as Lisa being like, "Just go. Like, I understand. That's your one true love. [C laughs] Like, hunting is your one true love, and we'll always be number two." Because it could very well be that approach, right? [C: Right.] Because that is kind of like the point of the conversation later. But because her approach was matter of fact, and like, not driven by jealousy or a feeling of like, betrayal that you don't love us enough kind of way, it just feels a lot more chill, you know? And yeah, I like it. Like it, love it, you know. Maybe Dean and Lisa are in an aromantic relationship. Good for them.

C: Good for them. Yeah, so Dean is just like, "I don't know. Something might come. I can't predict all that." And Lisa just says, "I'm going to need some parameters. We have to live our lives. I have to work, and Ben has to go to school." And yeah, Dean says, "Well, if something happens on my watch..." and Lisa just says, "I know you're trying to protect us, but you're kind of scaring me a little, too." And then she goes. Good for her.

-

G: So Sam receives a call from Samuel saying that like, there is a pattern with the security company, and all of the victims are from their customers. And there is one more family that fits the profile of having a young little baby in there.

C: Six months. Just like Sam.

G: I know! I thought they were gonna reference it in any way, shape, or form, but they didn't.

C: Yeah. I thought, at least at some point, part of the like, "Oh my god, what creature is this?" there would be like, the fear that is Azazel's back again or something.

G: So Sam goes to that family, and honestly, what's his name? John Showalter? He did a good job with the directing of the like horror-y stuff this episode. This scene also looks magnificent. He enters the house, and it's like, dark, and it's just flashlight. And as he's like, flashing the lights around, he just sees the fucking just bloody body in the room.

C: He goes into a room, and he looks under the table, and he makes a shocked face. Oh, okay, I did skip a lot. There was a guy. And Sam attacks him.

G: Yeah. I'll do it. So there was somebody who's like in the house, but then Sam fucking gets them out or something. [laughs] But then he crouches down-

C: He doesn't get anyone out. There's a guy who attacks him, and he slashes him with a silver knife, and the wound like, smokes a bit, which gives a hint as to what kind of creature it is-

G: Yeah. And the guy goes out! Sam drove him out!

C: Ah, yeah.

G: Unbelievable. [laughs] Sorry. I'm being so mean to you. Have you noticed that? [C: No.] I'm so sorry. No, you haven't? Well, I'm not apologizing.

C: [laughs] Okay, great.

G: And then yeah, Sam's like looking around the room, and there's something on the floor, but we don't see it yet. It's like suspense, even though we all know it's a fucking baby.

C: I mean, you wouldn't know if it was the first time we watched it.

G: Wait. At what point were you like, "Oh, this is the episode with the baby."

C: Oh, I did know by this point.

G: How? Oh, because it started with a baby getting semi-abducted, yeah, okay. And then suddenly, Sam starts speeding out, and it's night right now, and he brings up Dean, and Dean is in the house in his PJs. He's putting salt by the window. And Sam very urgently is like, "Dean, you need to fucking go here. Dean, you have to meet me." And Dean's like, "Dude, I don't wanna!" But Sam says, like, "If you don't come to me, I'll just show up at your doorstep, like, in thirty minutes or something." Yeah, Dean shows up, and as he opens Sam's car, the most beautiful car in the world, maybe, he sees that damn baby.

C: Oh, also, Dean's not driving the Impala. He has this white truck.

G: Yeah, 'cause they're gonna do a whole reveal with the Impala later. Why did he opt to do that? Was he like, "Let's separate my work life from my other work life."

C: Yeah. [laughs]

G: [laughs] Is it really that? Just brought up memories and stuff?

C: I think the Impala is for hunting. He just keeps her away because of all the guns and things.

G: And also, yeah, but like, we did see him with the car with Ben in Episode 1. So it's not like, in full not use. So was he like, he was keeping it around, and then when Sam shows back up, he's like, "Oh, the hunting life is an actual option for me now again," he like, goes to the truck, 'cause he's like, "I don't want to think about it"? Or what's the situation.

C: Could be. I believe it.

-

C: Dean goes back to Lisa's place, and he has taught her how to load a gun and prepare to shoot it, and he asks her to go through all of it again. And he reminds her to salt the windows and the doors. And, you know, she's very matter-of-fact about all of it, but her patience is fraying a little bit about his overprotectiveness, and then he starts saying like, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't go. Like, Sam can just do this." And Lisa goes, "Dean. No offense, but if you don't walk out that door, [both] I'm going to shoot you." Agh. Love her!

G: And there is a very- Okay, first of all, Lisa is so beautiful. [both laugh] [C: Yeah.] Like, this is a given. I'm doing all this just to point out that I really do like the scene where it's like, profile shot of them, and Dean leans in for a kiss and then goes to leave, and we linger on Lisa a little bit. Because it's like the only scene in the entire episode where we see like, an inkling of worry or like, thought in Lisa that's like, we don't see from Dean's perspective. [C: Yes.] Like, Dean turns around, and Lisa keeps on watching him, and her face is like, unreadable, but in a good way. You, the audience, can be like, "Oh, she's thinking about him in ways a little bit less straightforward than how she's portraying it to him," which is very fun. [C: Yeah.] And she looks amazing. [both laugh]

C: Good for her.

G: They're in the car now. And, I don't know, there's a fucking baby, and the whole bit is that "Oh, there's a baby in the car." I don't know. It's kind of corny. It's kind of boring, even. [C laughs] Should I say that? [C: You should.] I should say whatever I want. Yeah, Dean keeps on joking around with this fucking baby. He turns around, he looks at the baby, and he goes, "Well, feel free to speak up if you know anything," and he thinks he's so funny. But it is amusing. And at some point, he has not seatbelted because the Impala, as we know, does not have seatbelts. And Sam's like, "Oh, Dean, the car is beeping, 'cause you need to put your seatbelt on." I think Cas is gonna show up next episode. Is that true or is that not true? I hope it's true.

C: He's supposed to be in next episode. [G: Yeah.] I feel like he's racist in it, though, or he does something racist. [both laugh]

G: Sure, yeah. I mean, he's gotta at some point.

C: I'm pretty sure he's racist in it. [G laughs]

G: Let's see! We'll find out next week. [C: Okay.] No, he like, throws himself off the window to Sam's car, and then we hear [C: Yes!] the beeping sound again 'cause the car alarm is going off. Love it. Anyway, we hear the beeping now because of the seatbelt, and Dean's a little bit annoyed, but then, you know, he puts on a seatbelt.

C: He says, "A car should drive. Not be a little bitch," and the baby makes an upset sound. [G laughs] Feminist baby. Let's go! [laughs]

G: Literally. They go to the supermarket to get some superbaby supplies. I mean, I think this is a pretty iconic scene. I see it giffed around as like, something funny, where they're just picking up diaper rash cream and diapers and stuff. And while they're lined up for the payment, the baby's crying so fucking loud, and [laughs] Sam is like, "Dean, make it stop!" [both laugh] And yeah, he's like, "Everyone's staring at us like we're abusing this fucking child!" [C laughs] And both of them don't know what to do, which I do find fun, because later on, they do try to do the thing where like, "Oh, Dean's kind of good at like, taking care of babies," but like I like that they didn't enter with that. I feel like it's a little bit more like enjoyable in terms of entertainment value, but also like, them as characters like, you know. I like it. [C: Yeah.] At some point, Sam's like, "Maybe he needs to have a diaper change." And Dean was like, "Oh, I don't know." [laughs] And Sam's like, "You should pick him up," and Dean picks him up and starts like, just like turning him around. Yeah, iconic. He's doing the helicopter on this baby. But I like- While watching this scene, I was like, "What is the process of hiring a fucking baby to be carried around like that by Jensen Ackles?"

C: Yeah not sure. I think a lot of times it's like, the kids of somebody who works on the show.

G: Really?

C: Yeah. I think they're more likely to trust somebody that they know with their baby. People are like, "I don't know Jensen Ackles. I don't want him to do that." But if someone's on the cast, they know Jensen Ackles, they know that he'll listen if they talk to him about how to hold their kid, and they're like, there on set and watching while it happens. Then yeah, I think it's more doable. And a lot of people aren't just putting their babies up on job boards, I think, [both laugh] so.

G: Yeah. I mean, there probably is an actual like, call to casting for like, "We need a baby!" [C: Yeah.] But like, I suppose it's difficult if it's like a long-term filming because babies do grow up so fast. And also, it's a baby. [both laugh] Like, it's gonna cry and shit. And like, I don't know, how many takes did they do with this? Were they like, "Oh, we have a baby, so we're just gonna do two takes at most."

G: I don't know. The baby's a good actor.

G: Yeah, baby's a pretty good actor. I hope the baby is handsomely compensated. [C laughs] [C: Yeah.] And like, I was trying to catch moments where I'm like, "Oh, that's not a baby. That's a doll baby." But no, it's always a fucking baby. [C laughs] Like, at no point, I think, did they use a doll this episode. That means they had a baby. [laughs] Obviously. And I was just like, "Wow, they have a fucking baby. They don't have a doll baby." Like, in that scene where Dean was like, rotating that fucking baby, I was like, "That's a doll, right?" But no, it's a fucking child. [C laughs]

C: Oh, also, what's relevant is that Dean has a better idea of what to buy for the baby because Lisa has a baby niece.

G: Yeah. At some point, a lady shows up to them, and they're like, really making an effort of making this like a very warm and comely woman, and she carries the baby to calm it down, she asks, "Oh, what's the baby's name?" And Dean goes, "Bobby," and Sam goes, "John," and I've seen so many analyses on this. [C: Yeah.] People have thought about this long and hard. People are like, "It's something that like, Dean thinks of his father as Bobby, but Sam, when he's soulless, thinks of it as John, and he does it because he's soulless!"

C: I think as a regular guy would also think that it's John [both laugh] because Bobby hates him.

G: I think Bobby hates his ass so bad. [C laughing] Like, if Bobby was Sam's father, he'd be like, "Dude. Let's cut it out." So yeah, I don't know. Well, yeah, this kid is now named Bobby John.

C: I think what's more interesting is that their automatic thoughts were that they were gonna name this kid after their father rather than who that father is.

G: Yeah. I do think it's a little sweet that Dean thought immediately of Bobby. That one, I think, is sweet. [C: Yeah.] I don't think it's a sign at all of Sam's soullessness, which is what I see more on the side of analysis in terms of the scene. So they're like, talking to this lady, having fun. And then she's like, "Oh, I'm gonna take him away to change his diaper. Don't even worry about it." But then Dean turns around and catches sight of the CCTV camera, and this lady has shiny eyes or whatever what's it called. Glowing eyes? That thing. And that means she's a shapeshifter. And so Dean is like, "Thanks, but I think we got it." But like, she keeps insisting, and Dean goes, "Give me the baby before I stab you in your neck." So real! And Sam seemingly doesn't immediately get that this is because she's a shapeshifter. [both laugh]

C: Dean's just like this sometimes.

G: Like, Dean, so real. [laughs] He's like, "Dean, why are you so impolite today? What happened? [C laughs] You're having a moment, and it's not good to be rude to people." But eventually, they do this chase, and it's Sam who picks up the baby and Dean tackles her and stuff, and then, as he's about to stab, he gets yelled at, and then he storms out and he goes and hops into the car where Sam is speeding through the fucking road.

-

C: They're discussing in the car why a shapeshifter would want a baby anyway. And Sam says, "You know, it could have been following me this whole time, since the baby's house." And Dean's like, "Okay, we should get this kid somewhere safe." And meanwhile, the shapeshifter has caught Sam's license plate, and this might be the same person, but now, as a police officer. And yeah, he's calling out an APB or whatever it's called on the car.

G: And it is fun to see the shot of like, police officer, and then it pans to the side, dead police officer, [C: Yeah.] and then it pans to the side, and it's like, lumps of flesh on the ground.

C: Yeah. Fun stuff. So now, Sam and Dean and Bobby John are in a motel, and Dean's changing the diaper, and he's like, talking to the kid a lot and then hums "Smoke on the Water" and sort of bounces him up and down. [G: Yeah.] And Sam's over by the side, just watching, sort of amused. And he's like, "Dean, that's not gonna work. You're just gonna make it cranky again because you're such a horrible singer!" [laughs] But Bobby John does go to sleep.

G: [laughs] Dean tells this fucking baby, "If I put you down, are you gonna be a man about it?" [both laugh]

C: Yeah, this is how complexes are built, Dean.

G: Yeah. This baby was with Dean for only two days or something, but he's going to carry this comment for the rest of his life.

C: Yeah. Sam goes, "Huh." And Dean goes, "What?" And Sam just says, "You're not that bad at this. You're like, father material."

G: Ew.

C: Ew. [G laughs] This is all to force a conversation that feels kind of awkward where Dean's talking about his relationship with Ben and then that relationship with John. So yeah, Dean's saying like, "You know, I've sort of had to be in dad mode recently because of Ben. Like, he's starting to feel like my kid, and I just feel like I have a chance to do something different for him because of all the trauma I had when I was a kid," and he does just say all of that. [laughs] Like, it's not hinted at or anything. [G laughs] He just says it. Which, I don't know. Maybe it's a sign of him being more emotionally mature and doing more self-reflection?

G: I mean, I've said this a million times, but Dean is aware of what's going on with him.

C: Yeah. So it's just more about being willing to share.

G: Yeah. Or being willing to say it out loud. Stuff like that.

C: Yeah. And Sam's just like, "Uh, really? Are you doing a good job, Dean? Like, you clearly care about the kid."

G: It's so funny because last episode, this is what Sam does, too. Like, Dean enters a revelation. Sam's like, "Uhhh, I feel like you can establish some logical fallacies in that one." [both laugh] So real.

C: Yeah, yeah. It is especially- I think the point of this is, I mean, for Dean's character development, for doubt to be sowed, but also for more doubt to be sowed about Sam saying that he stayed away for a year because Dean had Lisa and Ben and this great family, and he didn't want to ruin that. He's very down to ruin it now, so that is not why he stayed away for a year. [G: Yeah.] Yeah, so he's like, "You know, you're moving them around a lot. You're keeping them on lockdown. How is any of that different from how we were raised?" It is different from how they were raised, actually, [laughs] but the show does not seem to be making that distinction too strongly. Like, John's problems involve forcing them to hunt when they were young and leaving them alone with no adult supervision and no food money? [G: Yeah.] Like, Lisa's there. Ben's fine!

G: Yeah. And Ben's not even his son. [both laugh] I know that's not the point, but they do point it out. They make a point of it where Dean was like, "I know he's not my kid," and it's like, who the fuck cares? [laughs] I don't know. I guess he does.

C: I guess he does. But yeah, I think the general point made being that Dean wanting to protect them is decreasing their quality of life and making him an authority figure in their lives is valid, but I don't think it's not any different from how they were raised. And Dean's like, "Well, this is temporary," and Sam says, "Dad said it was for 22 years!" [laughs] So real.

G: So they were talking those two years. Maybe it was just 20 years. Have you considered? Maybe in the 21st year, John was like, "Yeah, no, it's been 21 years."

C: Huh, yeah. Good point. Maybe there was just like a birthday call where John left a voicemail that was like, "Hi, Sam. I hate you for going to college. Also, the way we were living? It was temporary." [both laugh] Yeah, he goes, "You want to watch out for them. That's great. I'm just asking, how do you do that and not turn into Dad?" A stupid question.

G: Very easily. I feel like you can do it in many ways, shapes, and forms.

C: Very easily. A lot of people wash out for other people, and a lot of people aren't John Winchester. I think it's a more valid question if, I don't know, if it's just Ben there, because then the choices are either like, "Keep the kid out of it and end up being an authority figure that's lying to him, or like, teach the kid how to defend himself," which isn't the same thing as forcing him to be actively involved in hunting like John was, but I feel like a lot like for them, like, just the fact that they touched a gun that young, thus destroying their childhood innocence, seems to be more what they're upset about than like, the being forced into hunting part of it. But like, Lisa's literally there. Like, it is fine. Lisa's literally there, and I think Dean has a general good middle ground even right now, though, I mean, he could back off a  bit. Where he teaches Lisa how to defend herself, he keeps Ben out of it, [G: Yeah.] and he generally keeps them out of all of it. Like, I think he's doing fine.

G: I do genuinely believe that like, the only situation in which Dean can turn into John is if Lisa wasn't there. But Lisa is there. [C: Right.] That's the main thing. Lisa is there, and Dean isn't raising Ben by himself. [C: Yeah.] So yeah. Feels like such a fucking big difference.

C: Yeah, I agree. [laughs] And Sam, I guess soulless Sam just hates women or something.

G: I mean, it has been alleged. [both laugh]

C: By me.

G: You alleged it. He's on his laptoppy while this is happening, and he like, discovers something in the middle of this conversation. He's like, "Oh my god! One of the couples, the dad wasn't home when the baby was abducted. So the dad's still alive, and he's like, off somewhere. Let's interview him." And so Sam goes to interview that dad, and what they find out is that-

C: Wait. Dean giving whiskey to a child. Is that happening as part of our discussion? I mean, it's not- it's something that people do, so like, it's not like he made up this new thing to do to a baby that's bad.

G: I mean, there's many things you can give a kid that they give the kid a kid in the past that's not good, so.

C: Yeah, agreed. See, I think it was a bad move, but yeah, I think looking at it is like, "Dean's not an amazing parent, and he's doing it the Dean way, which is sometimes wrong, but it's harmless, quirky, and good," or whatever the fuck.

G: Dean way, such as imposing masculine expectations and such. [C laughs]

C: Yeah. And give him alcohol, yeah.

G: "Are you gonna be a man about it?" is a hilarious thing to say about anything, I feel like. [laughs]

C: Yeah, agreed. Dean has been drinking this whole time, by the way, while he's talking about how like, Ben feels like his kid and all that shit, and I think that is meant to be as like, part of [G: That's Dean!] a, "Well, he's just like John for real" thing. So yeah, this might just be the ender of that point, but mostly in a humorous way.

G: Yeah. Anyway, we go to the guy that Sam wants to interview, and this guy claims that he was getting divorced with his now-dead wife because what happened was she cheated on him, and the way he found out is because she's pregnant, and they haven't had sex in a while. And she said that the reason why she got pregnant is because when he went out, he, like, went back home early and they had sex. And this guy divorced his wife. I mean, many things to I guess say. Or are they? I don't know.

C: I don't think there's that many things. It's just the shapeshifters were using rape by deception. Not good! [laughs]

G: And Sam like, figures it out that these babies, their fathers, are the fucking shapeshifters. But the way Supernatural does this is, he's pacing, he's pacing, he's pacing. He picks up the phone. He starts ringing Dean, and Dean picks it up. But then, as he picks it up, there's like, an explosion in the crib, and he's like, panicking but also slowly and carefully trying to look into it. And when Sam goes like, "Yeah, Dean, it's a shapeshifter!" We go to Dean, lifting up the baby in the crib, and the baby - [laughs] the most effective way that they thought to show us that the baby has changed [C laughs] is that the baby is now Black.

C: Yeah, to match the baby on the diapers packaging.

G: Which is just because he saw the diaper packaging?

C: Yeah. He was like, "I wanna look like that."

G: Do baby eyes work at six months old?

C: Probably. Do they not?

G: I mean, they do, but like, they have this thing where they only see some things. [C: Huh!] Like, everything else is blurred. But I don't know. I haven't been near a little baby in a long time.

C: It rapidly improves in the first six months of life.

G: Yeah. And this baby is maybe seven months, so it's the best it's gonna get. [laughs]

C: Okay, they have good color vision by the time they're five months old. Take in faces at week six. Yeah, it's almost fully developed at age three to four months. [G: Yeah. That's fun.] So Dean's trying to calm down Bobby John, who's crying a lot. And then the hotel manager keeps knocking on the door really loudly, saying that he needs to come in, that there have been complaints about the sound. And then he starts trying to break in, so Dean puts Bobby John in the crib and hides behind the door and attacks the shapeshifter, who's still the police officer. And the shapeshifter says, "That child should be with his father," and Dean, haha race joke, I guess, was like, "I'm not really seeing the family resemblance." And then the shapeshifter says, "I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about our father."

G: Who art in heaven.

C: So true.

G: That's not true. Don't say that. [both laugh]

C: Okay. Not true.

G: Not true. Heretic, even, people would say.

C: Here- here- heretic, even. [G: I agree.] Dean's losing, but then Sam comes into the room and shoots the shapeshifter, and it's like a shot where the shapeshifter falls down, and Sam's standing in the doorway, all cool with his gun. And yeah. Later-

G: They call back to this later.

C: Yeah. That Sam had to have overheard when the shapeshifter said, "I'm talking about [both] our father." Honestly, the timing is not clear to me that Sam would have heard that, bu I guess he did.

G: Yeah, no, that's why Dean puts it like that. Dean's like, "Oh, remember the hotel?"

C: Oh, right, and Sam's like, "Yeah, I did hear that."

G: "Oh, yeah!" And he's like, "So you heard it. So you're lying to me."

-

G: So they're in the car now, and Sam and Dean are discussing how it's even possible that shapeshifters are like, having sex.

C: Well, reproducing. They know that shapeshifters have sex.

G: Yeah, maybe they're asexually reproducing. But like, basically, Sam's like, "Wait, I thought they were just like X-men or something. I didn't know that it can be like, passed down or whatever." And Dean's like, "Yeah. Don't we know it?" And this is- they point out that this is like, a baby. Like, it is a shapeshifter, but it's also like, a fucking baby.

C: Dean's on the side of "It's just a baby," yeah.

G: Sam is arguing for "It's still a shifter!" while Dean is arguing for "But it's a baby shifter!" And Dean was like, "What are we gonna do? Drop it off in an orphanage? Like, they might get upset when it turns Asian!"

C: Asian mention!

G: Asian mention! [both laugh] Asia represent! Yeah. And Sam brings up that they should bring it to Samuel. It's like, "We're gonna bring this kid to a bunch of hunters?" And Sam's like, "They're not just hunters, Dean. They're our family." [C laughs] Fuck off!

C: It's weird that soulless Sam still has values regarding loyalty to the family, honestly more than he did before.

G: I think I tried to mention this last episode, but I didn't do a good job, but what I like about this is that, yeah, soulless Sam is leaning into the concept of family, but like, in a way that is so like, on paper, you know what I mean? [C: Yeah.] Because when they say, "It should be about family," they're not just talking about the people we are related to by blood, and that's the only qualification, you know? [C: Right.] But I think what's happening here is Sam understands that these are the values that he is supposed to value, [C: Yeah.] and he has decided like, "Oh, family is something that I'm supposed to value." But there is a lack of understanding about what aspects or parts of those really imbue that value with meaning.

C: Yeah. So, "These are my cousins? Sure. I trust them. We're good!"

G: Yeah, which I do find fascinating. I think it's like, an interesting thing to do. Like, later on, in the future seasons, they have one character lose his soul, and he was a really passionate guy, like, he liked doing things. And then when he found out that he was soulless, he was like, "Oh, that's why I didn't love any of these things anymore." And Dean was like, "What? But you still kept the collection, and you still talk passionately about it." And he goes, "Yeah, but like, it's because I understand that's what I'm supposed to do, but I don't really feel the actual affection anymore. I just understand that the affection is supposed to be there." And like, I think that's like what Sam is doing. He's like, "Oh, they're family, and if I'm going to equate that as a value that I have, the the affection should be there." So even if it's not, he just- you know. So, yeah, I think actually, that's a question that you're supposed to ask in this episode. Like, if you didn't know that Sam was soulless, that is supposed to be ringing a very, very red bell. That's not- I'm mixing my- whatever. [laughs] Sam says like, "Oh, don't worry, Dean. Not every hunter is a headcase. I mean, Samuel is actually a lot like you." And Dean's like, "Well, I'm a headcase!" [laughs] And he's so real for that. But anyway, they still ended up going to Samuel just because they don't really have any other proper choice.

C: Yeah. Well, Sam has other reasons, I suppose.

G: Yeah, Dean has no other choice. Sam is being ominous and mysterious, etc.

-

C: Yeah. So there's a scene in this like, compound where the Campbells are staying. There's like, guards-

G: It's ominous as fuck-all.

C: - who are like opening some barbed wire fence or whatever thing to let the car drive through, and then the whole time inside the compound, all the Campbells are making like, evil, smirky faces, and there's ominous music playing as they like, circle around Dean like wolves. [laughs] He's holding Bobby John. He's very scawed, and Gwen says something mocking. Mark just like stands there and stares at Dean with like, a mean face or whatever.

G: Christian is like a crazy name for an American. [C laughs] It's a very common name here. Some names are like, that's only for Filipinos. If you're American, get out of here. [C laughs] I think Christian is a crazy name for an American to have, just because like, that's your language, you know? Like, you speak English and the connotations of it, blah blah blah. [C: Right.] I don't know. Here, it's like, honestly, I only realized later in life what the word Christian means, [both laugh] you know. But perhaps if you're in the United States and your community's English speaking, you know instantly what Christian means.

C: Right. I feel like it's a common enough name, though, that I don't actually associate it with the religion when it's somebody's name.

G: No, but I think it's undeniable that if someone is named Christian and they go by it, the entire name, it's like, "Oh, this person like comes from a religious family, and maybe of a specific type of religious."

C: I mean, that's probably true, but I don't think about it. Like, it's not something that comes up in my head when I meet someone named Christian.

G: Slay. Maybe that's the case. [laughs] For real. To be fair, I've never met an American who's named Christian, so maybe there exists-

C: How many Americans have you met?

G: Well, there's you. [C laughs] There's Danica. [C: Yeah.] [both laugh] There's that person that I dated. Do you remember that? [C: Yes.] The one who's ugly, yeah. [both laugh]

C: I mean, I haven't seen pictures of all the people you've dated. Maybe there's multiple people who fit that description. [G laughs]

G: I've only dated one American, though, so.

C: True.

G: And with your help... [both laugh]

C: So Sam and Samuel come into the room, and Samuel's saying that he has some ideas about their next move. "Dean, let me see the kid!" And Dean's like, "Uh-uh." And Samuel's like, "What do you think I'm gonna do?"

G: I think they do actually do an amazing job trying to like, make this feel tense, like with the camera work and stuff. [C: Yeah.] It's just an ominous looking place, [laughs] first and foremost, and they're like, in a hallway. I think that's a good choice, having them be like, in a weird liminal space as they do all this shit that's so weird.

C: And Christian says, "I'm curious. Who exactly do you think we are?" And it's all ominous and shit, and Dean says, "Hunters." And Christian says, "Funny. Here, I've been thinking we're family." And Sam's like, "Okay, okay, let's calm down. Dean, it's okay. Let me take him. It's okay." And he takes Bobby John and then passes him straight on to Samuel. [laughs] Slay. [both laugh]

G: Do you think it's weird for Sam that his grandfather, who interacts with him, is named Samuel?

C: He wanted to name his kid John, apparently, [G laughs] and then named his kid Dean for real, so, no, I don't think so.

G: He saw this, and he was like, "This is so cool! Maybe we should keep doing this for the rest of our generational life!"

C: Name buddies? Exactly. So Samuel takes Bobby John, and he's just like, nice to the kid or whatever. Just like, "Oh my god! Hi, cute baby! You know, Dean, your mom was like, the tiniest little baby ever, and she was super bald, and all of that, just like me for real." [G laughs]

G: Wait. I thought you were talking about yourself, and I was like, "Did Crystal change their look? What's happening?" [C laughing]

C: You haven't seen me on camera for like, probably at least a year, honestly, so it's possible.

G: No, yeah. The last picture I saw of you was chin below, so, you know, things could have changed.

C: It's true. Dean's like, "Okay, what the hell are we gonna do with him?" And Samuel says, "Raise him." And Dean's like, "Huh? What the fuck? What?" And like, what did Dean think? Did he think that Samuel would be able to cure him of shapeshiftingness? What did Dean think was the move? Like, what did he think was gonna happen?

G: I think he thinks what I believe is the intention, which is that they're gonna take this kid and study him or give him to someone who will study him.

C: Yes, but like he was against that, right? Like, he was like, "I don't trust you people." But like, okay, so he was like, "The best case scenario, which I'm okay with, is you giving this kid to somebody to study, and I'm opposed to the raising him one?" I'm trying to figure out his moral scale. Like, he was very against this. He was like, "You can't do this. It's not gonna work. What the fuck?" So like, what did he want?

G: No, I think Samuel was getting something here, which is that what it is, really, is that Dean doesn't trust them, doesn't trust them to keep their word. And so- 'cause Dean was like, "Well, we have to raise the baby, it's a fucking baby, even if it's a shifter." But when Samuel was like, "No, okay, we're gonna raise the baby!" Dean was like, "I don't believe you. I think you have an ulterior motive," which he does say later. Like, "I don't trust you guys because you guys are sketchy."

C: Yeah. But I suppose- I don't know. But later, he's like, "You can't just Angelina Jolie a shapeshifter," which seems to imply that like, he doesn't think you can raise- Or is the point that like, you can't?

G: No, I think he's arguing against them just to make an argument. Just to have something to rail against because he doesn't want them to have this kid, no matter what.

C: Fair. So he was hoping they'd be like, "We're gonna kill this kid" so he could just run out with him?

G: I mean, I don't know. I'm not actually sure what they were trying to do with this scene, but in my heart of heart, I think what was happening was that Dean was uneasy that they were welcoming this baby, [C: Yeah.] and he wants them to stop doing that because he doesn't trust that they would actually welcome the baby.

C: Yeah, 'cause of his whole hunting life and domestic life has to be completely separate thing, etc.

G: No, because these people are fucking suspicious, which is what he says!

C: But the whole theme of this episode, like, the conclusion, is like, "You can have hunting life and domestic life together." So like, the point of this storyline, and Dean not trusting that hunters could raise a child is meant to be like- this is a manifestation of-

G: "A hunter can raise a child!" Okay.

C: Yeah, of his insecurities, or like, his uncertainties about the hunting life versus the domestic life. And them being sketchy is like, from his perspective more than them for real.

G: Ohh, yeah.

C: Or at least that's how I read it.

G: Because at some point, they do go like, "Oh, imagine what kind of hunter this kid can be." And that's like, when Dean really reacts like, "What the fuck?" [C: Right.] Okay, yeah.

C: Yeah, Dean's surprised about this. And Samuel's like, "It's dangerous out there for him." And Dean's like, "Well, and here, what are you gonna do? Study him?" And Christian's like, "Just because you're a big torturer who won best torturer of the month 20 months in a row down in Hell [both] doesn't mean all of us are like that."

G: Doesn't mean that we're all excellent torturers. Some of us are beginners, Dean! Some of us are amateurs and hobbyists!

C: Yeah, be sensitive about that! And yeah. And Dean's upset about this, I think because of it just in general, and also because it means that Sam told them that Dean tortured people in Hell.

G: [laughs] Hilarious.

C: Yeah. And Sam goes like, "Christian. Take it easy, man. He's my brother." [laughs] Love Sam being like, "This is what family is, right? Let's do that." [G: Literally.] Could have also been like, "He's your cousin!" But yeah. [G: He's your family.] He does not care 'cause he hates Dean, Christian hates Dean, yeah. And Samuel's like, "Calm down. No one's gonna do anything to him. When he's old enough, we'll let him make the decision if he wants to volunteer to join us or not." And Mark's like, "It could be great because he could be a really good hunter."

G: Which is true.

C: Yeah, it is true. Though, I mean it would be also quite dangerous, given- if you're handling silver knives all the time, and if you like, nick yourself, it's gonna be horrible.

G: Oh, yeah. [laughs]

C: And also, if you're on a shapeshifter hunt, like, how do they know if you're like, Bobby John or like, a different shapeshifter if they do a silver knife test?

G: You wear a name tag, obviously. [C laughs]

C: You're right. I'm so sorry. I should have thought of that.

G: You put a pronoun thing, but you you scribble your name below the pronouns is what you do.

C: His pronouns are Bobby/John. [G laughs] Sorry. Bobby's pronouns are Bobby/John. No, wait. His- yeah, I don't know which- there might be another word in there.

G: Yeah, exactly.

C: Who's like the third person who's like a father to them?

G: I would say it's Samuel Campbell.

C: Yeah, okay. So Samuel pronouns are Bobby/John. There we go.

So yeah, Dean's like, "You are all joking. You can't Angelina Jolie a shapeshifter. Give me the baby." By "Angelina Jolie," by that he just means "adopt a child of a different race from a different country," right?

G: Is that what that means? [laughs] Why does it mean that?

C: Because Angela Jolie adopted kids of other races from other countries, and I feel like she's like, well-known for that.

G: Is that true? Ah. I had no idea what this meant. I was like, "Okay, let's just go with it." [laughs]

C: Yeah, no, that's I feel like that's her thing. Or it's not her main thing, but it is something well known about her kids. Yeah, I don't see how that exactly plays into the shapeshifter/hunter- like, "hunters can't raise a child thing," but I don't know. It's something. And he demands that they give the baby back, and Samuel's like, "Why don't you twust me?" And Dean says it's because Samuel and Sam are both suddenly back from the dead, and he is the only one who's curious about it. So, you know, starting to lump Sam in with this whole "people we don't trust" business. And Sam says, "You're not the only one who wants to know." And Samuel's like, "Okay, if you're not comfortable, that's fine, but don't put it on us. All we're doing is trying to invite you in!" [both laugh] which I don't think is true, either. I think Samuel is.

G: I don't think that's at all what they're doing.

C: I think the rest of them are quite mean. But yeah, he goes over to Christian. He's like, "Hey, you and Arlene"--his wife, I assume--"like, you guys are still trying for a baby, right? And it's not working? But you still want one?" And Christian's like, "Yeah." And Dean's like, "Huh?" And Samuel's like, "It's okay, Dean." And he just hands Bobby John over and says, "Congrats. It's a boy. Sometimes." Trans rights! [both laugh] [G: Literally.] Dean's all like, "You can't be doing this," and [laughing] Christian says, "Go to Hell," [both laugh] which is, I think, particularly pointed given the "You were the best Hell torturer employee for 20 months in a row."

G: He's kind of iconic.

C: Yeah, pretty funny. And Dean goes, "You have no business raising anything," and Sam goes, "Why, Dean? Because he's a hunter?" [both laugh] [G: Literally.] And then their guard dogs start barking, so even though Christian was like, "I'm gonna be this baby's dad," [laughs] he immediately hands the baby off to Samuel, who hands it off to Dean and tells him to take Bobby John to the panic room. So Sam and Dean run down there, and then a shapeshifter who is disguised as Samuel comes in and says, "You have something of ours." Question, Sam and Samuel were discussing something in another room before they came in. So is Samuel in on the bait thing? Is that meant to be our interpretation?

G: I don't know. I think so.

C: Yeah. So the whole giving the baby to Christian thing was just like, a fun little play?

G: Yeah, they're just trying something out. They were like, "You know, this fucking bait is taking so long to catch. Why don't we play around a little bit?"

C: Yeah, yeah, let's make some contributions to the arts.

-

G: Well, Sam and Dean, hidden away, and the shapeshifter like, kills people, I think.

C: He kills Mark at some point.

G: Yeah, the irrelevant other guy who has a Christian-related name. The theme of the fight is that everything that should hurt a shapeshifter is doing absolutely nothing to this guy. Like, they tranquilize this guy, they silver him, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is working. And like it comes to a point where like, they think they've finally gotten him, and then he just like stands up, and then like, the darts on his back just shoot out. [C laughs] And also, I feel like other shapeshifters need DNA or something, right? [C: Yes?] This one just looks at them and just changes. Actually, I'm not sure if that's true. Maybe the- I think the the one who- what's the- "Dream a Little Dream of Me" was the one you need DNA for. But basically, like, you know, he just changes a lot, and he doesn't shed. Because like, when he changed to Dean, he didn't shed, right? [C: Right.] So this is a special type of shifter. So he eviscerates the entire floor, and then we go to Sam and Dean, who are waiting in the panic room. But Sam's like, "Okay, whatever. What the hell is that? I'll go out." But then the shifter is there and fucking attacks the fuck out of Sam, and Sam's on the floor. And then it just changes to Dean instantly and strangles Dean, right? Like, he lifts Dean up via strangulation and gets that damn baby.

C: Yeah. Bye, Bobby John.

G: Goodbye, Bobby John. This baby's fucking gone.

C: Yeah. Yeah. And they don't really do an emotional beat about it. [G: Yeah.] Which I thought that they would.

G: Dean isn't even like, "That's my baby that I just let go." [C: "Noo!"] He's like, "Noo, that's my son!"

C: They were doing the whole, "No, that's my son" thing, I thought, but not really. [G: Not really.] I guess his only point was to be like, "Wow! This baby is not my son, but you know who is? Ben."

G: "Who is also not my son." [both laugh] [C: Yeah.]

-

G: They're back, and they're like, fixing themselves up, all of them. And Sam was like, "Wow! I thought it was a myth, but it's true. This is the alpha." [both laugh]

C: Not the alpha, an alpha.

G: An alpha. Okay. Sorry! Sorry! Who's the alpha, Crystal?

C: Who's the alpha?

G: Who is the alpha? Question of all time.

C: Nobody? Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

G: No, but he's the alpha and the omega, if you must remember.

C: Yeah, but that doesn't mean that he's not the alpha. Am I not Asian just because I'm nonbinary, Grey? [G laughs] Think about it.

G: No, yeah, they cancel each other out, yeah.

C: So true. It's not about the heterosexual or the nonbinary or the Asian.

G: [laughs] Yeah, exactly. Samuel explains that this alpha is basically the beginning of that bloodline of monsters. So like, the original monsters. Like, the original shifter and all that. That's the reason why it was so strong because it was like the first one, and also the shifter earlier said, like, "Oh, I can feel it. Bobby John is here." [laughs] I don't think he said "Bobby John," but yeah. And that's because he has a connection to like everything that is his progeny, and they're wondering what the babies are for. They don't know. They don't know.

C: Yeah. And they don't think they can kill the alpha shapeshifter either.

-

C: So Sam and Dean head out talking, and Dean's like, "You know, it's really weird. Because before you killed the shifter in the motel, he mentioned having a shared father with Bobby John, which makes sense now, because he meant the alpha." And Sam's like, "Yeah, yeah." And Dean's like, "So you heard him say that." And Sam's like, "I don't know. Maybe. It was like, a stressful moment. Probably? Maybe?" And Dean says, "Well, if you heard him, then you knew the alpha was out there, and if you knew that, you knew he might come after the baby, in which case you were using the baby as bait. So was that the plan?" And Sam's like, "Huh? No, of course not!"

G: Yeah. I do think it's like it says something that at this point Dean was still willing to ask Sam directly. Because he's obviously upset at Sam, but I think he thinks that "Oh, if I confront him, even if it's true, he would like, tell me." Except he won't, which is fascinating.

C: I think he's still trying to figure it out. Yeah, like, I think it's partly a test. Like, if Sam says that he didn't do it, then Dean's like, "Oh, well, Sam's not honest with me anymore, and I really can't trust him."

There's a short scene where Samuel's talking on the phone, and we don't know to who. And he's like, "That shifter killed three of my people." Mark and the two guards outside, I assume. And he was like, "Okay, and this is horrible, but sure I'll find it, and I'll bring it to you."

-

G: We are now back with Lisa, and Dean is there. And, you know, she's just doing shit. And like, it is so stark the difference in coloring, which I also did love. This house, it's like morning in the house, and it's bright, and it's sunny. And Dean stands forlornly beside like, the giant window [laughs] and he's like, looking out or whatever, and he starts contemplating that like, "I don't know what I'm doing, and I don't know what the right decision is, and if I knew, I'd do it, but I don't know if I should stay away from you guys or stay here. Like, I don't know what will keep you safe, and I don't know what to do." And also that, you know, he knows that because of all of this stress he's acting in a way he doesn't want to act, and it's scaring him. And Lisa says that, "Dean, I also don't know what's the best, but what I do know is that you're not a construction worker." [both laugh] She said, "Dude, when you cut wood, it's not straight. Get out of here." "You're a hunter. And now that your brother's out there, things are different. You don't want to be here, Dean." And Dean says, "Yes, I do." And Lisa says - and I do like this one. She says, "Okay, maybe you want to be here, but you also want to be there." And yeah, she says, "You're white-knuckling it, living life like this." Love the term "white-knuckling." "You don't have to hide who you are." Oh my god! She said, "I love that you're bisexual." [C: Yeah.] She's just like Central Cee for real. [both laugh] And yeah. She says, "I'm not going to have this discussion with you every time you leave, and it's going to keep happening, so I need you to go." And Dean says, "Well, I can't lose you and Ben." And she says, "That's not like, exclusive. Just because you're gonna be a hunter doesn't mean you're going to lose us. You can just always come back here as long as you stay safe, and you try to live your life as you want it." And Dean's like, "Okay!" and then he runs to the garage. [both laugh]

C: Well, he says, "Do you really think we can pull something like that off?" And Lisa says that "We should try."

G: Yeah. And then he runs to the garage.

C: Yeah, and they're playing rock music, and it's fucking stupid as all hell.

G: Fuck off. It's "Smoke in the Water," right? [C: Yeah.] It's the song he was humming earlier, which I think was fun.

C: Yes. I think this scene is stupid as all hell.

G: It looks stupid at the end of an episode, but I did like it here. I mean, I did like it independently of everything. If this was in Season 7, I'd also be like, "Love it!" If this is in Season 8, I'll be like, "Wonderful." [C laughs] If this happened in Season 3, I'll be like, "Love this episode!"

C: Yeah, sure. In the context of the episode, it's like, "Oh, I've had difficulty reconciling my hunting life and my domestic life, but we're really just gonna try to make it work, and my heart will be with both of you." And then it's like, "Vroom vroom, bitches. It's Impala time!" [both laugh] Like, it just feels totally dissonant.

G: No, he reconciled- He lost a baby. He reconciled with his secondary baby. And now, here is his first Baby. [C: Yeah.] It's an episode about babies is what we've established, and so the Impala does need to be here. [C laughs] [C: Sure.] No, but I do love the scene. There's a tarp. He removes the tarp. There's like zoom-ins on places, and he's like, looking at all this, smirking, and-

C: It's fucking stupid. Sorry, you're allowed to love things. [G laughs] Or are you?

G: I do find so funny that like, for us, it's like, cool because there's action and movement because of the camera, but like- [laughs]

C: Maybe for you, it's cool.

G: But for Dean, he's literally just standing in front of this car, smirking. Like- [both laugh] [C: Yeah.] And that's so real. That's important. Yeah.

Okay, well, what did we think about this episode? Remember when we started talking about it, and I was like, "It sucks, and I hate it." I think maybe it's fine.

C: It's literally fine. I think it was a decent episode. I feel like they did an okay job at like, connecting what was going on with Dean's life with like, the specific case while moving the intrigue of things happening to monsters and Sam being off forward. I like Lisa. I wish we had more of her. I really wish we knew things about her parents or something if they're going to be talking about this whole generational trauma parenting thing. The ending was fucking stupid as all hell. Those are my thoughts.

G: Yeah. Okay, well, Best Line/Worst Line?

C: Best line's probably a Lisa one, but I don't know which one.

G: I do like when Lisa goes, "I'm not arguing with you, you're the expert." That entire conversation until the last part where she goes like, "We have to live our life," I don't know. I think those are the kinds of things that- I like it from Dean's perspective, and that, as I've said earlier, those are the things Dean needs to hear.

C: Yeah, I was also going to that section, so yeah.

G: Yeah. I do frequently think about that one post. I forgot, like, the entire context or even if it's a Dean Winchester post for real or I just like, in the tags, I was like, "Oh my god! This is so Dean" or whatever. But like, that one post about how Dean is like a kid who goes to the kitchen and then breaks the plates [C: I think that's about Dean.] because he wants people to go in and like, tell him like, "Don't break the plates." or just tell him, "Oh, we love you" or whatever, but everyone's just like, "Ugh, Dean's breaking plates in the kitchen. Let's not go there." [C: Yeah.] I don't know. I am surprised by how much I like Dean so far this season. I think he's got an interesting characterization thing going on with him. [C: Mm, yeah.] Yeah. And you don't seem too pissed about him, either.

C: He's fine, I guess. He's just not hitting on women anymore, and I think that was most of his annoying behavior.

G: Yeah, literally. Last episode, he was like, "I can't believe women are hitting on me. I know I'm so hot, and I look so hot, [C laughs] and people think I'm available, but I'm not." And then he's like, "Okay." [laughs]

C: Yeah. He got it out of his system, and now he's fine.

G: Okay. Spreadsheets?

C: Worst line?

G: Oh, worst line, yeah. I don't know. I don't like the part where- I don't know. That's a lie. I don't have any strong dislike for any part. I think I don't like the racially something something lines. Like, when that shapeshifter comes in, and Dean was like, "You're not- you don't look related" or whatever.

C: There are kids who are related to parents, and they don't look like them because it's like, an interracial relationship, and also it's just a general, like, othering of Bobby John.

G: Yeah, and basically, the whole, for me, the issue is that they never reference that kid being white, like ever. [laughs] [C: Right.] And then he's Black, and suddenly it's like, "Oh, the kid is Black!" Like, okay, well.

C: Yeah. "Oh, and they're gonna get upset when he turns Asian." They'd get upset if he turns white, too, because he's currently not that. [G laughs] [G: Yeah.] Yeah. And yeah. Also, like, who are the other people of color in the episode, right? Like, there's the woman in the grocery store, who's also a shapeshifter, and I feel like they did make her like, an older Black woman specifically to be like, "You can trust her. She's motherly."

G: No, yeah, they were really leaning into that.

C: And there was like- the pizza delivery guy was Black. Was that all of them.

G: Oh, yeah, I think so.

C: There were some other people in the grocery store, I think, who were people of color. But yeah. So this is one of those rare Supernatural episodes with people of color, but it seems that in most of the cases, it was for a reason. [laughs] [G: Yeah.] And not a good one, yeah.

G: Okay, spreadsheets.

C: I think that goes into our spreadsheet discussion, yes.

G: Misogyny, I would say there's not.

C: Trying to think.

G: Okay, okay, I have a question. How have we and how will we in the future engage with that specific kind of horror violence that's like, the horror is that it's a woman who's being violated. Do you know what I mean?

C: Yeah, like, there's the idea that there's some greater loss of innocence or like goodness or whatever.

G: No, I mean, [C: No?] I don't know how to describe it. Yes, that, but also like specifically like, where the intention is like, it's a woman. It's not- I don't think it's that present in the first scene of this episode, so like, maybe this isn't even the episode we need to be discussing it in, but like, if you know the movie- what the fuck is that movie called? The one directed by Tom fucking Ford. Do you know that he directed a movie?

C: The perfume guy?

G: Yes, he directed Nocturnal Animals. I watched this because it has Jake Gyllenhaal in it. It was misogynistic in a way that- like, I was watching a series of Jake Gyllenhaal movies, and after a while, I was like, "Oh, yeah, I'm experiencing that like fatigue of like, when you watch a series of movies, and then all of them have like, at least some aspect of misogyny, and you're getting tired." And then I watched this, and I was like, "Let's quit it. Sorry, Jake Gyllenhaal." And like, the whole point, is like, violence specifically towards women. Whatever. We'll probably address it in some other episode of Supernatural. It's just something that I thought about at the first scene of this episode. But yeah, I think the misogyny in this one is 0.

C: Yeah, yeah, I'm willing to go with that. I feel like there's a general "I wish Lisa had more of a past" vibe, but I don't think it necessarily needs to translate into points. Racism is there.

G: I would say it's 3.

C: I would say 3.

G: They made it fundamental to the episode. Homophobia. I don't know. 0?

C: I don't remember any. So yeah, let's go with 0.

G: Okay, what- Oh, I am even-numbered, so I'm gonna be the first one to guess my IMDb. I'm actually so unsure. Last episode [C: It was so off.] was 7.6. I would say this one... I think people like Bobby John, and people like that Dean specifically was like, good with the baby, and Sam to was in this episode. I would say this would be an 8.2. That's my guess.

C: Okay. Huh. I feel like it's gonna be a while before I understand what the standards are in this new era of Supernatural. [G: Yeah.] 'Cause 7.6 is shockingly low for an episode that was like, bad but not like, I think, noticeably worse [G: Egregious.] than like, 8.0s in the past. Yeah, I think- I don't know. This was more case-y. I think people like when Dean's like, funny, and he was like funny in that store, I suppose. I'm gonna go higher than you and go 8.3, but I feel like this may be a bad move.

G: Okay, let's see. [laughs]

C: Is it in the 7s?

G: It's a 7.8. [laughs]

C: Jesus, are we just gonna be in the 7s for the rest of Season 6?

G: Oh, well, let's find out! I mean, "The Man Who Would Be King" is absolutely one of the most top-rated episodes of Supernatural, so that's not the case.

C: Is it that top-rated?

G: Yes, it's very much top-rated. [C: Okay.] This one says, "It's not good, but it's better than the premiere, at least," which is, [laughs] I mean, it's true. "Yay the Impala is back!!!!! Girl I missed you." So real. I think what happened is that people just hated "Exile on Main St." so bad, and so it's just like a continuation of that disappointment. Like they're like, "I can't believe it's still bad when it should not be bad anymore."

G: That’s it for this episode of Busty Asian Beauties. Next week, we will be discussing Season 6, Episode 4: "The Third Man." Ah! And the third man is, in fact, Castiel. Look look look look! If you go to the Supernatural Wiki because I look at there to check the next episode, this is the picture that they have! Wait, I'll send it to you. It's so cute! Oh, and I have to open Discord. It's gonna load for so long! [laughs] [C: Yes.] Why does Discord update at every single opportunity. [C: Dunno.] Yeah, it hates us and wants us to die. [C: Yeah.] [typing] Look.

C: Aww!

G: They're all in their hands-in-pockets era.

C: Yeah, I mean, Dean looks weird, and I'm covering him with my hand, but hi, Sam and Cas!

G: Cas is so cute. Miss him already. It's been two episodes.

C: Yeah. Sam is standing like a gingerbread man cookie. Why do his legs look so short? [both laugh]

G: This angle is not servicing him in any way, shape, or form. Let's just say that. [C: Yeah.] No shape, no way, no form. Follow up- Give us a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts. And do, like, leave us a rating or review, you know? I love to read reviews. I love to read people going, "Funny podcast" or whatever. I love it. You know, it's an ego boost.

C: Wait, when was the last time someone's left us a review?

G: I have no idea.

C: Can you love something that's never really happened?

G: No, people do it! Fuck off! [C laughs] People do it. [C: Alright.] I love interaction in this podcast specifically. And also, okay, can I just say, I understand that, like, we're going to have a dip of listeners in Season 6 and probably 7 and probably 8.

C: We already did.

G: I think after Season 5, we're just never going to recover numbers, probably. If you're still listening, thank you so much. [C: Thank you.] Please stay. [both laugh] I'm emotionally pressuring you guys. No, no, no. But we're we're always grateful. We are. [C: Yeah.] And etc.

C: Yeah, you can send us asks, and Grey will be happy about the interaction, but I'll still have to answer them. [laughs]

G: Yeah, if you send us an ask, Crystal will be more likely to answer it just because I find answering asks quite difficult. But I love to answer the email. And I check my email- like my email notifs are on.

C: Okay, yeah, so depending on who you like better of the hosts, [G: Yeah.] either communicate via Tumblr ask or our email.

G: Yeah, if you email us, I will see it pretty much immediately, just because I'm that kind of person, and I will reply.

C: Well, follow us on social media! We are on Tumblr at bustyasianbeautiespod.tumblr.com. Our official tag is #BABPod, B-A-B-POD. Thanks to everyone who's donated to our Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/bustyasianbeautiespod, which is where our outtakes live, and check out our merch at babpod.redbubble.com. No one has bought anything from that store except for Danica. [both laugh]

G: Literally! There's one physical manifestation of BABPod ever, and it's in Danica's house. Did we even receive that money?

C: I think you have to make a certain amount before RedBubble sends you a cut.

G: No, I think they sent it to us at the end of the year. Yeah, they sent it to us. I received it.

C: Okay, great.

G: I received like, $3 or something. [C: Yay!] I don't know. I forgot how much, yeah.

G: Email. If you want to email us, email us. You'll find the email. It's in the description. [C laughs] bustyasianbeautiespod@gmail.com. See you guys next time! [both] Bye!

[guitar music]