#you will be surprised by the number of characters who say they are bisexual..... not a lot

[djullyreviews]

Why doesn’t anyone talk about Dr. Stone anymore?

Text without spoilers!! Text with adapted translation from Portuguese Brazil to English! Text with personal opinion!

Text revised in 15/03/2025

I decided to rewatch the anime when I realized I really wanted to know how it all ended! From the very beginning, I was intrigued by the mystery that ties the whole story together: why did everyone in the world turn to stone?

Since then, I’ve ended up watching the entire first season, and now here I am, following the release of the fourth season. It’s amazing to see that the story continued far beyond the first season, but then I remembered one key factor working in its favor—it’s a shounen anime, after all!

I loved Cassanova Posse so much, thks ALI !!!

IT PROMISED NOTHING AT FIRST, BUT IT’S DELIVERING HOT MEN AND FUN.

Well then. I don’t think I was the only one who considered dropping the series after that scene where Ruri took the antibiotic. It was downright bizarre—even hardcore shounen fans seemed to find it odd (really???). I vaguely remember people on social media trying to "cancel" the series for a few reasons: the way the bodies were drawn and those hypersexualized scenes at questionable moments.

I suspect that scene caused some backlash. Word must have reached Boichi, the writer, and the anime’s production studio. A drastic change is noticeable in the first season—those strange camera angles on female characters, which were everywhere in the early episodes, were almost completely toned down.

That’s not to say the anime doesn’t have sexy and sexualized female characters. It still follows the classic shounen formula: big breasts, thin waists, curvy figures, and beautiful women. However, they cut so many of the unnecessary hypersexualized scenes of female characters that they were left with… hypersexualized male characters instead. And that trend clearly continued throughout the seasons—cue the diving scenes with sunlit, bare male butts (and much more).

It made me wonder if this is just Boichi’s artistic style—sexualizing both male and female bodies. I have no idea what kind of hentai or adult works he’s drawn before, but this tendency is noticeable in Dr. Stone, even though the series itself is far from adult content.

This excess of male nudity must have felt strange to some viewers—especially those who were watching for the female characters. If that was the main appeal for them… well, tough luck. The anime seems to have shifted away from its original target male audience and ended up captivating the female audience instead.

Each new character is a man with a handsome face (with a few exceptions), a perfect body, and a striking personality. Meanwhile, very few new female characters have joined Senku’s nerd club.

"There's no heterosexual explanation for this"

The straight couples were confirmed by the authors but received little attention. Meanwhile, the number of scenes featuring men doing and saying brotherly things… well, let’s just say it only got more intense with each new season. I started this anime thinking the target audience was men, but by the end, I felt like I was the target audience.

Gen's entire existence feels almost too sugary for a shounen series—especially with that velvety voice every time he calls out "Senku-chan"… And then Stanley and Xeno show up, delivering gay-coded content faster than the last BL series I read.

Ryuusui has openly stated—twice—that he’s bisexual (at least according to Crunchyroll’s translation). Honestly, I’m surprised that wasn’t censored on Japanese TV.

Too many events to mention here...........

THE APEX OF ABSURDITY IN THE WORK

One of the goals of this post is to encourage everyone to watch Dr. Stone and give the anime a second chance. Let’s gooo!!!

The authors fully embrace the height of absurdity in the events:

Do you know DanDanDan? That’s right, a popular shounen with a supernatural theme where totally absurd events unfold, and the author uses the bizarre to drive the story and draw his manga.

Dr. Stone isn’t all that different in this regard. The theme changes—science, physics, mathematics, chemistry, and the like are the weapons used to write these events. They’re so absurd that they end up being ridiculously funny.

Watching Dr. Stone is almost the same experience: silly, light, and funny at times. It’s something you watch without needing to think too hard to understand what’s being proposed (and you usually get a few quick science lessons from Senku).

The protagonist isn’t boring by default; he’s a nerd:

Our onion-loving nerd is far from being the most boring protagonist I’ve seen in shounen manga (I’ve seen worse). While we have our darling Okarin, the ufology nerd, here we get Senku—living and breathing science in every single episode.

Unusual character design:

Boichi did a fantastic job with the character designs. He delivers the basics really well, whether it’s the villains or the protagonists.

I’ll admit, Boichi’s style isn’t my personal favorite, but I can’t deny that he does his job as a mangaka very well.

Stop being hypocrites about the bodies in Dr. Stone while still consuming other popular animes that do the same (or worse):

Let’s be real. Stop complaining about the character designs in Dr. Stone when there are other popular animes out there that do the exact same thing, if not worse. I don’t see people trying to “cancel” those.

I didn’t think the ending was bad at all (no spoilers):

I decided to look up the series’ ending just to prepare myself for any possible disappointment. After quickly browsing the internet, I’ll be honest: it’s not bad at all (I’ve seen much worse endings out there).

In this case, I’d recommend everyone do the same—research the ending at your own risk. Personally, it didn’t discourage me from watching the anime until the end. I’m already hooked on the characters, and now there’s no turning back (they’re also some of the hottest characters).

SO WHY DID DR. STONE'S AUDIENCE DISAPPEAR??

With each episode I watched, I kept asking myself the same question.

Maybe it was because of the initial choices made in the first season (the first arc), and many people ended up dropping the show right then and there.

It’s possible that the hypersexualized scenes involving girls in the early episodes turned people off.

Maybe the male audience found it strange to see so many naked male bodies and not a single naked female character.

I also suspect that the show’s shift to focus more on the female audience, which is likely the majority of those who buy and consume the show today, may have led to some silent treatment.

Another thing I didn’t get was whether the absurdity of certain events was intentional from the start. It was only in the second season that I realized it was. Many people must have dropped the show because of that.

Many viewers are also bothered by the inclusion of the possibility of gay, bisexual, lesbian, and asexual characters. There are a lot of predatory anime/manga out there where characters do homosexual things, but the authors will never make it official. Dr. Stone seems to fall into that category as well.

So why do I see such a small community around Dr. Stone on social media? Why doesn’t it get talked about more? Could it be because of the issues I mentioned above? Or is there something else I’m not aware of?

Many anime currently being released meet these requirements, and Dr. Stone does too, so it’s a mystery why it’s rarely discussed on social media.

In the end, Dr. Stone is this chaotic mix of science, absurdity, and character design that somehow makes perfect sense in its own quirky way. It’s not your typical shounen, and maybe that’s why it didn’t have the same impact as other series. It’s eccentric, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a show where you learn chemistry while watching handsome guys argue about whether humanity should go back to its old ways or forge a new path after the petrification? Sure, the hypersexualized scenes and occasional weirdness might turn some people off, but if we’re honest, Dr. Stone delivers something a lot more refreshing than the usual predictable clichés. So why isn’t it taking over social media? Maybe it’s just another case of the reasons I mentioned before—or maybe, just maybe, the otaku crowd isn’t ready for shounen with a more scientific focus. Either way, I’m here for it, appreciating when shows step outside the "usual" in the shounen category.

I appreciate any and all support for this blog I created. Likes, reblogs, or recommending it to others are a huge help. See you in the next post!

[dubiousculturalartifact]

Obviously I’ve been queerbaited before, like, a genuinely incalculable number of times, and maybe thinking Buddie might actually go canon is a ‘fool me sixteen times, shame on me’ scenario, but I think one big thing that’s keeping my hope alive is this thought: If you genuinely believe that Buddie isn’t going to go canon, 100% zero possibility and absolutely no intention of trying... Then you also have to believe the people who create the show we’re all fans of are purposefully cruel dicks. 

Because we have SEEN what it looks like when the showrunner of 911 knows there is no possibility of it happening, has no plans of it, and is generally trying to avoid accusations of queerbaiting.

It looks like S5 & S6. Little bits here and there, the odd important scene to throw breadcrumbs… but a lot of keeping the two characters apart, being circumspect in interviews, PR shut downs on the actors, etc. The show has proven they are capable and willing to exactly that!

So indulge me, and imagine for a second. They had the conversation with the new network, and the execs told them they wanted to continue with the status quo, to write as if Buddie is never going to go canon, BUT were willing to bend so far as to make one of them queer, to keep the fans happy.

What would that look like?

I don't know, call me foolish.... But I think it would look like keeping the same dynamic from The Drought Seasons. Having them be friends and important to each other but still fairly disconnected, not having as much screen-time, etc, It would look like having Buck’s coming out arc be a SEPARATE, individual narrative. If they just wanted to write Tommy and Buck, and that's it, they could have done things differently.

There are just so many conceivable ways they could have written Buck’s coming out arc, to almost completely separate it from Eddie and have it be made clear, in no uncertain terms, that Buck is bi but that doesn’t mean he cares about Eddie like that, that Eddie is a hetero McHetero.

Buck’s coming out arc could have included him being jealous because he’s suddenly faced with Tommy in the flesh and is insecure about how he was technically ‘Tommy’s replacement’ at the 911, with Eddie not relevant to it at all, or have Maddie and Chimney be the ones to interrupt The Date, or literally any other scenario that didn’t make it all about Eddie. 

They could have had one short scene where Eddie and Buck talk about it, and then the rest would be like, Buck talking to Hen about being queer, Buck interacting just with Tommy and getting to know him, Buck doing a research binge about bisexuality and info-dumping at an inappropriate time during a call, etc etc etc.

That’s how you tell that story and only be writing it for the proverbial ‘general audience’.

But they didn't. They purposefully reversed direction. They chose for Buck’s coming out arc to... highlight his nigh-feral jealousy over Eddie forming a homosocial bond with another guy, having said guy repeat with genuine surprise and shock that it was him and not Eddie that Buck was interested in, have Eddie interrupt their date, have Buck be more worried about lying to Eddie than the fact that he’s queer at all, have Maddie say what she did to Buck about telling Eddie in specifically ambiguous terms…

In a season that also included the Fire Extinguisher Incident, and Buck saying he ‘wishes he could help’ with Eddie’s sexual frustration, and a big increase in social media engagement, and having Buck being Eddie’s rock in the last few episodes while he had a bizarrely platonic affair with his dead wife's doppleganger…

If they did that while KNOWING the plan was actually for Buck/Tommy endgame and Eddie riding off in the sunset with a hot female firefighter who has a cool motorcycle or whatever the fuck, or them both dying in a freak car-washing accident, or….

If they GENUINELY planned that? If the entire Buck jealousy plotline was intended to be nothing more than a deliberate queerbait-and-switch? Then they’re fucking assholes, sorry. They would have to know full well exactly what they were doing, how many people’s hopes and emotional investment they were toying with... If they were actually planning to keep dragging it along for seasons more of baiting and dangling things in front of us, while knowing categorically that they had no plans to deliver? That would be genuinely GOD TIER levels of specific, intentional queerbaiting.

Which could be the case! I won't deny that. Shows have done it before, plenty of times. Tim et al could be callous bastards deliberately instructing the actors to wink it up in interviews and share suggestive Tiktoks, and writing Buck’s coming out arc as being entirely focused around Eddie and throwing out hints... All while laughing behind Buddie fans' backs about our gullibility, how we’re keeping the show trending on the force of our delusions, etc. Maybe that's it! Maybe they just genuinely enjoying fucking with people. Or maybe they were just shitty enough writers that they didn't know what they were doing, and it was all a total accident, somehow, the proverbial monkeys pounding at keyboards and accidentally spelling out B U D D I...

But you know what? Call it naive, but I prefer to think they’re not huge assholes, or hugely incompetent.

That there might actually be a point to all this, somewhere down the line.

I guess we'll find out.

[rederiss]

Also (sorry not sorry I'm yapping this book IS FANTASTIC) this is me being mildly (just a bit) salty. It has not escaped my attention that people go feral for kevjean (Which i enjoy as a fan heavy concept, less so in canon. Moving away from Kevin is ideal for Jean, at least where I am.) And Jerejean has such a lovely slowburn buildup thus far (thematically, character-wise, they correspond with the journeys each character has set up and I'm genuinely excited to see how this plays out!), and I'm all on board.

I feel like I am the *only person* who is so attached to Jean and Renee. Not even in a "oh I want them together", in that they hit a harder emotional beat for me than Kevin and Jean, imo. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for a good "right person, wrong time/place." conflict. I just find this so utterly tragic and sweet. They can't heal together, and that's why they separate. And I find that really fascinating in comparison to Jeremy, who is someone who i think is set up as a place and person and time Jean is able to heal alongside.

Anyway, once again I am screeching about (and maybe I missed it but i rarely see Renee and Jean's romantic connotations discussed) a bisexual man (canonically bisexual! explicitly bi!!!) having his on page relationship with a woman swept aside. Because say what you will, but the Jean and Renee dynamic (not even just as a romantic one, overall I find it enthralling) is so bittersweet to me. That idea of needing a person to find healing with is so fjsjdjsjdjsjdn

I have to read more to build my point, which is ultimately that I see more parallels and thematic relevance in the Renee/Jean vs Jeremy/Jean relationships. The Kevin thing is (as i saw someone point out) a very codependent and unhealthy relationship. As much as I adore them, and I'd gladly engage in fan content for them, I think the other two relationships we see Jean have create a more compelling story to his journey and his healing. Does this make sense? I'm screeching.

Jerejean balance eachother so well, and as you progress in their books, you’ll see why I say this. They both will be able to give eachother what they need. Kevjean… Okay so Imma just say I disagreed but was chill with a Kevjean or Kerejean ship. It was a not until people kept minimize Jeremy’s characterization and even ignoring Jean’s needs that I started to really dislike it, which surprised me. Save for very specific ships, I don’t often dislike ships. Most of the time, I understand why they exist. Ships with Kevin feels like it’s only about Kevin and not about the others, so I distanced myself. (I can get behind Kevjean as friends though. Like a platonic/brotherly kind of love. But nothing past that.. I got thoughts on what their friendship could do for them both, and I doooo hope they find that form of love one day!)

*Coughs* The reason why you don’t see Jeanee being talked about is because people often dont like women being involved in ships. Oops I said something controversial! Haha. We see that with Kevthea (okay this one is complicated, and I know it. However, I have seen comments about Thea getting in the way of their ships. So thus included). We definitely see that with Jeanee. I have even seen someone go as far to say that Renee took advantage of Jean. CRAZY. Jean and Renee is so special to me because… something so so sooo interesting about Jean is the forever misplaced partners trope that he’s got going on.GOD I can go on and on about that.

People do not want to admit that Renee actually played an integral part in Jean’s healing journey. Her and Neil both actually! If it weren’t for Neil giving Renee Jean’s number, she wouldn’t have been able to save him! Renee and Jean are so tragic, but I’m glad we got Jeremy in the mix who is so similar to Renee. Jean is building himself a support system. MY BOY! Jean needs someone who is… already on their healing journey. Kevin is not that. Kevin needs to heal (and I got thoughts about that)

Renee… GOODNESS! I was shipping them before I knew Jeremy and Jean were a thing. They were my favorite ship until I got… about halfway through TSC is when it started to shift to Jeremy. Just AH Jean is such a special character to me. He deserves someone who is understanding and kind and not attached to the nest. Renee and Jeremy both provide that. Though I am glad he is pursuing Jeremy. 🥰

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #7510:

I forgot which submission number it was that talked about how Puritanism and Puritanism culture were terms being watered down unless I’m remembering a completely different blog, feel free to correct me on that, but I am aware what Puritan culture is outside of fandoms are those toxic extremely religious group of people that think that punishing people who participate in pre-marital sex. I am also aware that ironically, puritans have groomed young women, which sounds similar to how Antis are ironically always the one to be caught being a predator. But when we say things like Puritans in Fandoms or when we call most antis Puritans, we’re not watering down any terms nor are we misusing it.

Antis have attacked people who shipped ships that were basically not the sterilized vanilla ships. Shipped two characters with an age gap that isn’t too sus? Antis will label your ship as “pedophilic” because the age gap makes them uncomfortable. Shipped characters that are in NO WAY related but most people view the relationship between the characters as siblings? Antis will label your ship as “incest” even though again, the characters are in no way, shape, or form related and they will force their “sibling dynamic” headcanon down people’s throats because god forbid you ship a straight ship nowadays.

Also, this is a heavily “depends on the fandom” situation where if it’s between a WLW or MLM pairing, it’s fine, but if it’s a straight ship, then suddenly it’s sinful. Sometimes it’s vice versa, but either way, you delve into a taboo kink in fiction that you don’t want to indulge into in real life because for example in real life, a teacher dating a student (college professor or high school reacher) it’s illegal and unethical as hell, but in fiction, no real student is being taken advantage of, so it’s okay and the author does not encourage that type of behavior. Another is public sex. Obviously, another one that is very illegal because it can get you put on a list, but writing/reading about it in a fanfic is fine because you’ll be indulging in a scenario in fiction that won’t get you arrested.

But even with the creator saying that they do not in anyway condone specific sexual behaviors like the ones I mentioned above, the antis and puritans will pop up and say how gross, disgusting, repulsive, and whatever other colorful term they want to call writers or artists in other cases.

If a ship that we like isn’t the sterilized vanilla type of ship, the boring fluffy fanfiction with no sex to be seen or mentioned, or the cutesy pure wholesome artwork of the popular LGBT ship of the month, that creator will sometimes be attacked.

And I don’t think I even need to mention fandom double standards when it comes to male characters and female characters being sexualized and the minute a female character is being sexualized, some of the loud toxic voices in the fandom are quick to call people who don’t like seeing female characters be desexualized for the sake of “empowerment” when the fictional men are being sexualized one hundred times more, “misogynistic.” Then I guess LGBT women and women in general have internalized misogyny for also wanting to see hot women in fiction. Plus, there are worse things that happen to established female characters in fanfiction when they get vilified for no reason for the sake of an MLM ship or a reader insert fic, which I personally think is worse as it slanders the female character’s personality and twists them into a character that they are not.

Unfortunately, just like most things outside of fandoms such as sexism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, xenophobia, ableism and ageism, Puritanism has crawled its way into fandom culture as the years went on.

I am a bisexual woman who doesn’t want to see boring vanilla takes of WLW ships and that drawing of a female character? No real women are being harmed and surprise, surprise, there are many women out there who have made R34 of female characters, there are women who made or helped make Hentai, etc. Besides, the amount of energy antis put into defending fictional female characters from being sexualized could’ve been used and should’ve been used to help real women who are going through or went through far worse situations.

So the long story short, I have no idea what submission number this was, if that type of submission was made on this blog that is, Puritanism isn’t being watered down for fandom. Puritanism culture really has bled into fandom culture alongside many other toxic aspects that ideally shouldn’t even be in fandoms, but unfortunately, those problems still persist. If I got anything wrong, correct me, because my memory sucks.

[twilightprince101]

IN BUGS AND SNAX

I've recently been seeing more Bugsnax friendos get into In Stars and Time. Like, five different people I met via Bugsnax are now doing fanart and fanfics for it (if you know you know).

And I think it's a shame. Because that number should be SO MUCH HIGHER

So Bugsnax fans who are unaware of this lovely RPG, here's my pitch to you as to why I think you'd like In Stars and Time and would really enjoy it.

For ISAT fans who never heard of Bugsnax, read along if you wanna. This post is primarily for the opposite, but you may find something else to dip your toes into as well 0w0

Extremely cute / lovable cast that holds so much depth and complexity than meets the eye

Look at these goobers. Look at all of them having fun. They all seem like the kind of squishy chibi type OCs you would find on tumblr, right? Wholesome uwu babies?

Hahahaha

WRONG

Well, kind of yes but still WRONG

These characters have so much emotional complexity that it can be genuinely hard sometimes to pick a favorite character between them all. Odile isn't just the "mom of the group," she has her own reasons for being on this grand quest that stem all the way back to her family lineage, her relationship with her parents. And it all gets explored for every last character, just enough where you can fill in the gaps yourself, but you can still feel that there's so much more under the surface.

You know that bit at the end of Beffica's sidequests where she reveals that, despite her bitchiness, her reason for being like that is because she has a MOUNTAIN of trust issues? And that she never tells lies, but wants to unearth truths before she gets hurt? Remember how you felt when realizing that fact? That's there with ALL of the main cast here. Hope you've got your snorkel because there's so much for you to dive into.

2. Gameplay that adds to the narrative and puts you within that world/the player's shoes

This is my personal headcanon and I don't know if it's intentional on Young Horses' part, but I always felt that running around and catching all of the Bugsnax for the grumps in Snaxburg was intentionally designed to make you feel like Lizbert. You replace her role as town "therapist," you solve everyone's problems in a kind of regressive way that ends up hurting a lot of people. Despite the gameplay being fairly simple, it still added a lot to the plot, to give you that sense in the endgame of "oh. oh god, i really fucked up." You are forced into the shoes of that world/character through the gameplay and it hits much harder as a result.

That intentional and thoughtful game design is present from the moment you start up the game, all the way to the end. In Stars and Time has the best "ludonarrative harmony" I have ever seen. Ever.

The way that the game and story is paced makes you fully understand what Siffrin is going through, the constant slog through the castle (without it ever feeling grindy by the way!), zoning out through the same bits of dialogue. At any given point, no matter how dramatically Siffrin acts, you understand emotionally why he is at that point. You feel his exhaustion, his surprise, his desperate hope, his "i'm going to try fucking anything at this point" attitude. The entire way from start to finish, you feel it.

I refuse to say any more because doing so would spoil the game. But trust me when I say, if you noticed what Bugsnax was doing there with player/Lizbert parallels? You'd love this game.

3. "What is Straight?"

So you know how we all collectively agreed that Gramble is trans? and that Wambus/Triffany are the most bisexual straight couple?

How would you like those types of characters.... but have those conversations out loud?

Listen, I love this fandom as much as the next person, and I am a Transble believer at heart. But it's easy to forget that those are all just talked about in fanon, you know? (Despite gramble literally being trans flag colors listen i KNOW). We get certain bits of characters being introspective about their genders and gender roles, like Wambus being really stubborn with his farm and wanting to maintain a sustainable way of living, being "the breadwinner," for him and his wife. And Floofty feeling like an outcast for behaving in a way that is not "socially acceptable" while being nonbinary. But we never talk about those specific subjects directly, about sexuality, gender identity and the like. Not that Bugsnax NEEDS that, it's just something the writers never really thought to include.

But In Stars and Time... it scratched an itch I never knew needed scratched. Take the thirteen different pieces of character complexity and condense it into five. The discussions that the main party have in relation to their identities, both sexual and gender, are some of the most phenomenal pieces of writing I've ever seen. I've talked with asexual people who played this game who were like "finally, FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT." Finally getting some characters that resonated with them so, so well. And there is a discussion about halfway through the game with a transgender character that absolutely floored me, because so many post-transition character arcs that I see are related to dealing with transphobes and accepting your slay self queen/king/my liege. And that's good. It's cool. But I feel I've seen that so many times now I know the basic plot beats. And ISAT throws in a unique twist to it that I rarely see and the influence that their past combined with cultural pressure it's just, it's SO GOOD. You gotta see it to believe it man, I'm leaving out so much shit here you need to check it out yourself.

4. It will reach into your chest and strangle your heart with its claws

Despite how cute both games can be, they can bash the back of your head with a steel chair of emotion.

You know that feeling you get when you complete a lot of bugsnax sidequests? When you realize Triffany will never get the closure she wanted; when you've helped Wiggle chase this dream of a muse that doesn't exist, and that it was (at least partially) your fault? Well how about if that was the entire game?

This game has some of the highest highs and lowest lows, emotionally speaking. A lot of ISAT also has that same sort of emotional ambiguity Bugsnax has; certain plot points will never be resolved, because that's just life. And you're forced to sit with it, sit in that guilt and resentment because this isn't a problem that can be solved so quickly but you still tried and that arguably made things worse.

Yes, an argument could be made that because Siffrin is not a self insert like The Journalist, then there's a layer of disconnect. But remember what I said in point two: you understand every step Siffrin takes the whole way through because you play it. You sit in it. And no matter how dramatically Siffrin acts, it will be hard to deny that you wouldn't do the same in their place.

5. A big mysterious twist that will emotionally gut you and leave you to dry

Obviously I can't put much here. It'd spoil Bugsnax for ISAT fans and spoil ISAT for Bugsnax fans, more than I already have. But for the fans of each respective games, you KNOW what I'm talking about. And there is an equivalent in the other as well.

If the image of Siffrin making that face intrigues you in any way, especially compared to what I've already shown you. Then go in the game blind. The scene this is from blindsides so many people and once you hit That Face, you know the true game has begun.

----------

That's about the best pitch I can give for Bugsnax fans to play ISAT. I really do feel there's a lot of emotional overlap between these two, even if they're completely different games by nature. There's a lot to love and sink your teeth into.

If this is your first time hearing about either of these games and any of this sounds intriguing to you? Trust me. GO IN BLIND. The gameplay/story blend may not click for everyone right away, but if you let yourself sink into this game, if you let yourself connect with it, boy oh boy does it connect. There is truly nothing like In Stars and Time and/or Bugsnax, and the more people experience this game, the better. Trust the process, slink into it.

I promise you won't regret it.

Thanks for making it to the end have some silly little guys

[jack-merlyn]

Fic #4

Title: Let Beauty Come Out Of Ashes

Fandom: Supernatural

Characters: Castiel, Dean, Sam, Bobby

Pairings: Castiel/Dean

Status: Complete

Sam heard raised voices coming from Dean's room. He went to check, but when he tried the door, it was locked.

He heard Dean's voice saying "Cas, I already told you, I'm not gay! So stop trying to kiss me!"

And Castiel's reply- "And I told you, you don't have to be gay to kiss someone or be with someone of the same sex!"

Sam sighed. Evidently Cas was trying to help Dean get through his internalized homophobia and it wasn't going so well.

"Just shut up and kiss already!" he shouted through the closed door, before shutting himself in his own room.

Dean rolled his eyes. But whatever he was about to retort was cut off as the angel kissed him. It was a brief and gentle kiss, but it left Dean flustered and confused.

He pushed Castiel away from him. "What the hell, man?"

Cas frowned. "I'm trying to prove to you what I said! Sexuality isn't black and white, straight or gay. Crowley, and Sam, are both pansexual. That means they like whoever they like, regardless of gender. I'm gay. Meg might be a lesbian. You're probably bisexual."

Dean stared at Cas, processing his words.

Dean snorted. "I'm not bisexual," he protested. "I'm straight! And you, cannot kiss someone, even just to prove a point, without consent!"

He opened the door and stalked angrily out of his room.

Cas followed, keeping pace. "I'm sorry, Dean. Look, could we try this again? Sit down, hear each other out, and go from there?"

"You've made your point, as have I. Now leave me alone, Castiel."

Cas inwardly flinched at Dean's use of his full name. "Fine, if that's what you want." He turned and disappeared, giving the hunter his space.

The days passed, turning into weeks, then months, with no sign of Cas.

Dean hadn't prayed to him since before the day Cas kissed him. Sam tried, but he was ignored, as usual.

Sam and Dean were on a hunt with Bobby, and it was going badly.

"I think you need to call your angel friend, Dean," Bobby said.

Dean grimaced. "Do I have to?"

"Well our other option is probably death. And I'd prefer not dying. So yes, you have to."

Dean frowned, but dialed the number. "You're talking to him," he told Bobby, before putting it on speaker.

Cas sighed when he saw who was calling. "What do you want?" He was not expecting to hear Bobby requesting his help.

"Fine, but as soon as it's resolved, I'm leaving." He hung up and materialized where they were, helping them sort out their problem.

Before Sam could talk to him, or get him to talk to Dean, he was gone.

Dean stared at where the angel was, a wistful expression on his face.

"...Dean. Dean!" Dean turned, to see Bobby calling to him. "Boys, we have to clean what we can, let's get to it.

After, we're going to get dinner and you're going to tell me what is going on between you and Castiel.

Your reluctance to call him could've put us in danger, and if this continues, it will again." Bobby wasn't angry, not yet.

But his tone was stern and left no room for argument.

After they ate dinner, Bobby ordered them some pie, then pointed his fork at Dean. "Talk," he commanded.

Dean sighed, and explained what happened.

"And this was 2.5 months ago?? Sheesh, you'd have thought something worse happened from the way you were acting."

Dean looked at him in surprise.

"Castiel shouldn't have kissed you. However I also understand his point of view.

You need to pull your head out of your ass, stop being an idjit, and realize that you do, in fact, love that angel.

And no, I don't mean platonically. We all can somehow see it, except you. Even he can, and we all know how bad he is picking up cues."

Dean just stared in shock at Bobby, a forkful of pie halfway to his mouth.

"So here's what's going to happen," Bobby continued. "When you get home, you're going to call Cas, and talk this through with him.

Sam will tell me if you have or haven't. And I'll know if you try and pull a fast one. Understood?"

Dean blinked, then nodded. "Yes, sir."

That evening, Dean called Castiel for the second time.

"What?" the angel snapped, irritated to see Dean's name on his phone again, and because Chuck got pissy with him again.

"Cas?" came Dean's voice. "Is everything okay?"

"You ignore me for two and half months, you don't get to pretend to care now. What do you want?"

Dean frowned at his angry tone. "Could we talk, please? About us?"

"What more is there to say? You more than made your point. Now leave me be," he glowered, even though Dean couldn't see. Cas hung up, even more irritated.

Dean's frown deepened, and a tear trailed down his cheek. Cas was being harsh, but he probably deserved it, didn't he?

He went and told Sam what happened, more tears sliding down his cheeks. From Dean's pained expression, Sam realized he was telling the truth.

He got up from the couch and hugged his brother tightly. "I'm sorry, Dean. You did not deserve to be spoken to like that.

I'll call Bobby in the morning, and we'll work this out, alright?"

He hugged Dean again. "For now, let's get some sleep."

Dean nodded and dried his tears. "Thanks Sammy."

"Any time, Dean."

He watched Dean retreat to his room before following suit.

Dean lay awake, mind churning despite how exhausted he was from the day's events. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep.

From a dark corner, Cas watched over him, soothing him whenever he had a nightmare.

By the time Dean woke up the next morning, Castiel was gone. His mind of that night was hazy.

He remembered having nightmares that faded quickly, but he didn't know who stopped them. Though he was pretty sure it wasn't Sam.

And it couldn't have been Cas, because they were currently on unfriendly terms.

He brought it up to Sam over breakfast, but the younger Winchester was equally as uncertain. Another thing to tell Bobby about, he supposed.

In the meantime, he turned his attention to his rapidly sogging bowl of cereal.

Sam called Bobby and told him what happened.

"Right. Give me the number for Castiel. I'll call him and give him a talking to.

At this point he's being unnecessarily mean. I'll talk to him and figure out what the heck is going on."

Sam gave him the phone number and hung up, before dragging Dean to the couch to watch TV while they had some relative peace and quiet.

Dean was just stirring his cereal and staring at nothing, and Sam decided to keep an eye on him in case he decided to be stupid.

All Bobby told Cas on the phone was to meet him in his living room. He then sat the angel down for a talk.

Cas explained everything from his side, and talked with the older hunter. Bobby took everything into consideration before reaching a decision.

"C'mon, we're going to the Winchesters. You and Dean are going to talk. I don't care how long it takes."

Cas nodded, and followed Bobby to his car. He fidgeted, nervous about how things would go.

Sam and Bobby sat in the living room, while Cas and Dean talked in Dean's room.

The two talked a while, about things not only about the attraction between them. Cas also apologized for kissing Dean.

When they talked about that, Dean still insisted he didn't feel that way.

Castiel sighed in frustration, but kept his face neutral. "Then I think it's best I stayed away for a while.

We both need time apart from each other, clearly, or things will go south between us."

Dean nodded, but was still unsure.

With that, Cas disappeared. As soon as he was gone, he let his tears fall freely. He cursed at himself, for falling so hard for Dean.

After Cas left, Dean sat heavily on his bed, wondering why he suddenly felt so empty, like something was missing now.

Dean slid to the floor, talking, praying to Cas immediately. "Cas, come back- Please- I think we made a big mistake.

Come back, please-" He was begging, crying, for the angel to come back.

Cas heard, but he didn't answer.

"Castiel! Please..." Dean begged him.

At that, Cas paused. If Dean was calling him Castiel-

He decided to go back. "Dean?" he said, voice gentle. "Dean, what's wrong? What do you mean by a mistake?"

Dean didn't answer, he just jumped up and wrapped his arms around Cas, burying his face in the angel's shoulder.

His sobs faded, tears absorbing into Castiel's coat.

Cas just held him, rubbing his shoulder gently. He risked pressing a couple of kisses to Dean's hair.

"I'm here, Dean. I'll stay, if that's what you want."

Dean nodded. "Please stay-" He didn't let go of Cas, staying like that for a while, the angel comforting him.

Cas wrapped his wings around them both, to comfort Dean.

"I'll stay."

[ladykailitha]

WIP Wednesday

That's another WIP Wednesday done and dusted! Thank you all for sending in asks and hope to see you all next week.

Next week is going to be a blast! It's going to be a little bit like Halloween, but even MORE chaotic.

In addition to my main Christmas fic (once "The Good Elf" and now "A Love For Christmas") I will be writing Christmas ficlets, too. The goal is to write 400-1500 words in one of the many AUs I have in my portfolio. Twelve in total.

But you won't know which ones I'm doing until I post them one a day like an advent calandar from the 12th-24th. Mainly because I won't be doing WIP Wednesday on the 25th. So because I'm keeping them secret as to not spoil the surprise, when you send in your usual asks, instead of getting a snippet, you'll get a headcanon for a specific character attached to the AU.

The headcanon will be for in general and not specific to the AU so you can't guess. So I will have snippets for the 12 AU numbered 1-12 and a character will be assigned to each snippet AU.

You'll send in an ask for a number between 1-12 and then I will have two wheels of randomness: one for naughty/nice and one for the different AUs I'm going to be writing Christmas ficlets for. A nice will get you a fun headcanon but if you get a naughty, it'll be a spicy headcanon (so don't expect the adults like Joyce or Hopper or the younger teenagers for this). Once a ficlet is finished but there are still asks for it, I will spin the second wheel so that I can keep working.

For example: someone puts in an ask, say for number 11; then I spin the wheel and if it lands on nice I write for the snippet and then I give a regular headcanon like: Jeff sings in the shower and has a great voice, but put him in front of an audience and he croaks, or if it's naughty: I write a snippet and then post something naughty about Jeff, say that he's a chaotic bisexual who enjoys threesomes A LOT. But if someone asks for 11 and I've finished it, I would spin the wheel and get a different snippet to write about, say 4 then instead of it being about Jeff it would be about Eddie.

Does that make sense? If you have questions let me know and I'll try to answer them the best I can!

See you next week!

[redwiccanrobin]

I keep seeing people say the live action show is going to be bad only because Bryke is no longer involved. Now, I’m not particularly interested in the show because live action remakes just don’t do anything for me, personally. But I think y’all are giving Bryke way more credit than they deserve. Let’s discuss.

First, I think we should acknowledge the more problematic aspect of them creating the show in the first place. While I love Avatar, Bryke are two white men who took the aesthetics of many different Asian cultures to create their world. And most of the voice cast were also white. If there were Asian voice actors, they were either a background character or a villain (besides Iroh and Zuko, of course). Now, I know that some of you may have read that and thought about how the actor playing Sokka is not only white but lied about his ethnicity. Don’t worry, I’m mad at that as well and I’m beyond frustrated that Sokka has been whitewashed not once, but twice in the name of a live action interpretation.

And speaking of live action interpretations, let us not forget Bryke’s role in the 2010 movie. They announced their decision to leave this new show due to it not matching their vision. But they had no problem with the film that casted almost exclusively white actors to play characters of color. Again, if there were POC in the movie they were either background actors or villains (again, besides Iroh and Zuko). When people bring up the movie, they blame Shamalan for every aspect of it. Yes, he did not direct a good movie. But, at the end of the day, Bryke wanted this movie to happen. Everyone else, including Shamalan, wanted a season four but they were dead set on the live action movie that whitewashed most of the characters. And they were fine with that. That didn’t clash with their vision despite relying very heavily on non-white cultures to make their show.

Outside of the whitewashed movie, their creative choices are… interesting, to say the least. And we didn’t get to see those because the writers pulled their weight and tweaked the original concepts. Toph? Bryke wanted her to be a boy and be in a love triangle with Aang and Katara. It was the writers who made her a girl. Azula? Again, Bryke wanted her to be a boy and, again, the writers made her a girl. Katara fighting sexism in the Northern Water Tribe? They wanted her to be fighting for Aang, not herself. It was the writers decision to add in Katara fighting against a patriarchal system. Many of the episodes that people point to as their favorites (Zuko Alone, The Puppetmaster, The Southern Raiders) were not written by them. Yet, they get the pats on the backs from casual viewers and even some dedicated fans.

Do you know what happens when they do have creative control? At best, it’s mediocre, at worst, it’s bad. Let’s first take a look at their continuation of this universe by looking at Legend of Korra. The writers that made those iconic and beautiful episodes in ATLA? For the most part, they’re no where to be found. And it shows. LoK was a mess from the very beginning and never quite got its footing. Yes, I will acknowledge that Nickelodeon fucked them over. Yes, I do have respect for them for sticking to their guns and making Korrasami an item and giving us not one but two bisexual women of color. But besides that? It’s just a very mediocre show with mediocre writing.

But we see how truly bad things can get with the ATLA comics. Now, I do need to acknowledge that they didn’t work on that comic alone. So, like the movie, there are others to blame for the mess. But Bryke signed off on everything and wrote some of it themselves. And, boy, are they bad. A large number of the ATLA fandom do not like these comics and there’s definitely a reason why. Including out of character moments, prominent sexism with how the women are written, and just downright bizarre discussions, it’s not that much of a surprise that we don’t like to acknowledge it. In my opinion, no one got screwed over more in those comics than Katara. They make her a trophy girlfriend. A shadow to Aang rather than being her own character. That girl we watched in the show, the one who was vibrant, layered, complex, was gone. In her place, a hollow shell. And they would continue to show disrespect for their own character in LoK where she has been upgraded from trophy girlfriend to trophy wife. They didn’t even care enough about her, besides her being the wife of Aang and the mother of his children, to give her a statue! All the feminism we see in the original show? It definitely wasn’t Bryke.

I don’t know how this new live action show is going to pan out. It could be great, it could be bad. It could just be meh. But none of those outcomes have anything to do with whether or not Bryke was involved. Because they may have created ATLA, but they weren’t the ones who truly breathed life into it.

[venus-is-thinking]

A Narrative Defense of Eden Culprit Theory

Hello everyone! 

As I’m sure many of you know, I, among others (notably @accirax, @1moreff-creator and @thebadjoe) believe Eden to be the culprit of the Chapter 2 murder case. I’ve seen a fair number of people say they aren’t convinced for one reason or another. While I fully understand people who don’t buy all the evidence/the insane contraptions we’ve come up with or people who are in denial, I was a little surprised at how many people I saw say that it would be bad writing for Eden to be the killer here. 

While others are fully entitled to their opinions on who the killer is, I want to address this claim. Personally, whenever I’m reading a fangan, I always believe that I shouldn’t consider any killer to be “bad writing” until I see how it’s actually written. After all, there can always be a key twist you’re not expecting to make it actually make sense. Plus, in Eden’s case, I actually fully believe that all the building blocks of a narratively successful killer are already put into place. So, in this post, I’m going to attempt to back up my claim that Eden being the second killer actually makes narrative sense, and it isn’t bad writing either.

Because fangan writing is subjective and what any given author believes is the right move varies, I’ll be doing my best to support my claims with similar content from the canon game trilogy (given that that’s a pretty standard baseline) and from what we’ve already seen of DRDT thus far. That should (hopefully) give us some fair perspective into the sorts of narrative decisions the creator would want to make.

I’ll be going through various points at which I think something could or could not be bad writing, so hopefully that’ll provide some much needed structure to this theory.

Topic 1: Motive

I want to say this early: I do not think Eden is secretly evil. I think that in the context of killing games, “good” people can end up being killers, and I think that’s where Eden’s headed. I understand why, if some people have only seen Eden killer theories in the context of her being evil, they don’t like it. I don't like it either. I think it completely misinterprets her character.

For now, though, I want to talk about what motive she does have. There’s the fact that Arturo is threatening her, obviously. If she feels there’s a genuine threat to her safety, it would be decently reasonable to decide that, if her priority is her life, she’d rather try to get away with a murder than let herself be taken out by Arturo. 

There’s another potential motive out there for Eden that might be enough to push her over the edge. That being, we know she cares a lot about her friends and relationships outside of the killing game too. 

A lot of people, I think, have seen the theory floating around that goes “Eden is trying to leave to get back to the girl she kissed.” I’ve also seen it mentioned that this could be problematic, given that it could be saying “being gay = becoming a killer,” but I think there are several reasons why that doesn’t hold up.

First of all, we have a lot of canonically LGBT cast members. Nico is nonbinary, Whit is bisexual, and in the most recent Q&A, other characters such as Ace, Veronika and Eden herself were also all confirmed to be LGBT+. Given that Eden isn’t the “token gay character,” I think it’s a lot safer to make her a killer without sending the message “if you’re gay you’re a killer.” 

Secondly, I think that there’s more to Eden’s motive than just whoever that girl is. I think the girl will likely be part of it and be relevant, given that it’s Eden’s motive secret. Because it’s the Chapter 2 motive, the motive secrets should play into things in general. But, it’s not like that girl is the only one from Eden’s past that she cares about, right? 

Eden cares about her family, as we see in the scene where she talks to Levi. We know that Eden cares about her friends, as we clearly see within the killing game. We know that Eden cares about this girl. I think it’s safe to say that, for gay reasons or not, Eden has a lot of people she’d fight to get back to.

Rather than using her motive secret as the only way of justifying the “Eden wants to return to her previous life” motive, why don’t we look at other secret Eden content?

I’m talking about the secret quotes. I assume most people have heard about them by now, but basically, if you go to the characters’ profile pages on the main tumblr account and inspect elements, each character has a secret quote that you can find. Eden’s secret quote is “You can’t go back, no matter how hard you try.”

We haven’t really seen much of Eden trying to go back yet. I guess you could say that when she makes breakfast with Levi, she talks a lot about trying to get the group back together and back to normal, and that isn’t unrelated. Still, I think it makes a lot of sense if Eden is someone who’s focused on the past. After all, Eden’s talent is clockmaking. To the extent her talent influenced her personality/character themes, it seems like time is an important thing with her. Trying to turn back the clock and return to her life before the killing game would make a lot of sense thematically. 

I suspect that Eden’s secret quote relates to the fact that she tries to go back to her previous life by escaping the killing game. “No matter how hard you try” definitely sounds like she goes to pretty extreme lengths, but she still fails in the end. That would be when she’s caught as the blackened and executed; she never gets to go back. It’s precedented for secret quotes to directly relate to how characters died; both Min’s “I wanted to save you” and Arei’s “Because that’s what friends do” tie into the way in which they arrived at their death. I could definitely see it being the same for Eden.

Interestingly, there’s another reason to consider that Eden might be extra-motivated to leave the killing game. That point is that Eden has been shown to be the main person fighting against the killing game. For example, she and Hu brainstormed ways to deal with the Chapter 2 motive. 

That doesn’t really tell us anything though, right? It’s just trying to manage the killing game from within. That’s not it, though. It’s actually a repeated thing that Eden is constantly looking for ways to obstruct the killing game.

Even the plan to bore out the killing game, the one Veronika tells us couldn’t work because she’d get too horribly bored, originally came from Eden. I fully believe that there’s a reason we’re being told every other scene that Eden is working towards ending the killing game is that Eden has extra incentive to want the killing game to end, and that’s to try to return to the life and loved ones she left behind.

I also think it’s worth mentioning that, in the canon games, every single second killer commits their crime due to previous attachments that go beyond the killing game. Mondo kills because of the promise he made to his now-dead brother Daiya, Peko kills because of her allegiance to Fuyuhiko, who wants Mahiru dead due to the death of his sister Natsumi, and Kirumi kills because she’s actually the Prime Minister and needs to get back to her duties. Hell, Ryoma is even Kirumi’s victim because he doesn’t have previous outside attachments, which makes him feel like a more understandable victim for her crime. If you throw in “Eden has a lot of meaningful relationships back home and, here in the killing game, she misses them so badly that she’d kill to go back,” I don’t think it feels out of place. 

This is pretty niche, but there’s also something I want to look at in relation to Xander and Min. Notably, the pinned comments by the official account in their bonus episodes. 

Xander’s is “Someone who wants to hold onto the past.�� Min’s is “Someone who wants to move on from the past.” While this trend doesn’t have to keep up, I think it would be interesting if every killer/victim pair had one of each. Arei pretty clearly wants to move on from the past where her sisters and classmates ruthlessly bullied her. Eden wants to hold onto it, hoping to return, but she can’t go back, no matter how hard she tries. Just an interesting thing to point out.

But Eden’s motive isn’t the only thing stopping people from believing she’d be a reasonable killer, right? There are other things to consider, too.

Topic 2: Story Arc

To be clear here, “Story Arc” refers to how Eden fits into the larger narrative and story of DRDT. I’ll be talking about her individual story and growth later on in the section labeled “Character Arc.” 

For the most part, the larger narrative, at present, seems to be relating to Teruko and how she navigates her trust and relationships with everyone else. Eden is certainly a key factor in that, given that Teruko has basically acknowledged that outright. 

Teruko actively tries to avoid being friends with Eden, given the fact that she’s very nice and it’d be easy for Teruko to be friends with her. To Teruko, that means she’d be opening up the door to get hurt to easily when Eden inevitably dies and/or betrays her. Wouldn’t it only be proving Teruko right if Eden were to become a killer?

Yeah. It would. And that’s the point at the story we’re at. 

I don’t think it would make any sense for Teruko’s beliefs to be strongly challenged in Chapter 2. Like, at some point, I’m sure Teruko will figure out why it’s a problem to not trust anyone. After all, her secret quote is “It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust no one at all.” However, at this point in the story, things are going as she expects.

Think about it this way. Teruko believes that trusting people is opening yourself up for betrayal, and those who she gets close to will betray her and die. Let’s go through the people who have died so far, one by one, and see how they match up against that.

Xander: Was Teruko’s closest friend. Betrayed her by trying to kill her, then died. Check. Min: Was Teruko’s biggest supporter after she got stabbed. Betrayed her by actually being the killer, then died. Check. Arei: Previously shared Teruko’s worldview that being nice will just screw you over. Opened up and became friends. Had that friendship used against her to kill her. Check.

It definitely seems like, thus far, we’re validating Teruko’s worldview, basically as much as possible. No killer would validate her worldview more than Eden. That would make Arei an even closer parallel to Teruko (the person who she most tried to befriend was the one who tried to kill her in the end), and it would introduce another would-be friend as a killer.

Eden: Was Teruko’s biggest supporter after the first class trial. Betrayed her by being the second killer, then died. 

It looks an awful lot like Min’s, right?

In a more predictive sense, there’s also the popular theory that Charles will be one of the Chapter 3 victims. If that holds true, it’ll be another example in the same wavelength.

Charles: Was more like Teruko and didn’t trust people, avoiding them to stay safe. After rejoining the group and beginning to trust people, he died.

If that prediction is right, it’d mean that the trend continues past the point of the second victim to the point of a third victim, which would mean that the second killer would likely fit into the pattern.

But that’s a whole lot of my opinion, right? After all, maybe Levi or someone who isn’t particularly related to Teruko is the killer, so Teruko stays mostly the same, too. 

I do want to take a moment to acknowledge a bigger critique of this. It’s possible that some people might say that Eden killing here would be too repetitive in regards to Min and Xander. There are some key differences, though. 

Eden was Teruko’s friend after she started being mean and closed off to everyone. Min and Xander never really got the chance to react too much to Teruko’s antagonistic antics because they died before she was really pushing people away. That means it would carry more significance. Teruko has also spent more time with Eden, so their relationship is a little bit more developed. Eden is also someone that Teruko actively tried not to get close to before she killed, which wasn’t true of Xander or Min. 

Plus, I’d argue that it’s also supposed to feel a bit repetitive. This is what happens to Teruko, all the time. This is her life. It makes it feel more real and understandable how she reacts to Xander and Min if we as the audience begin to see and understand, oh, it really is like this every single time. 

Besides all of that, though, there are a few more thoughts that lead me to believe that someone closer to Teruko might be the killer this time around.

One of the biggest points in favor of this interpretation is the MonoCredits. 

MonoCredits are introduced in the scene where MonoTV asks Teruko to caulk the bathrooms. Then, she immediately uses one in the next scene where Charles is confronting her about her more antagonistic ways. At first glance, it seems like MonoCredits may have been introduced solely for that Charles interaction, and as a reason to plausibly get Teruko to help MonoTV out so that she could talk to it, too. However…

MonoTV gave Teruko two MonoCredits. That means she still has one. I wouldn’t blame you at all if you forgot this small detail– and that’s part of why I think the killer will be closer to Teruko. 

MonoCredits, and the fact that Teruko received two instead of one, are a pretty unimportant detail. I wouldn’t expect the creator to necessarily expect the audience to remember that Teruko still has one once we get to, like, the Chapter 4 daily life. I think that, because of that, Teruko will probably end up using this second one sometime soon, so that the audience will have that “oh yeah!” moment when it comes up, rather than an “oh… I kind of remember that…?” moment. 

There’s a very specific scenario in which I think Teruko might use it, too.

It’s pretty specific, but it’s already happened once, right? I think the most plausible situation for Teruko to use the second MonoCredit, if I’m right about it being this chapter, would be if she ends up in a similar situation before the execution again.

I can totally imagine Eden hugging Teruko and apologizing for betraying her trust, and Teruko, in the middle of freaking out, tells MonoTV she’s using a MonoCredit to get Eden away from her, which would then immediately launch into Eden being executed.

I think that could also be the right kind of push on Teruko’s character arc; her desire to get away from Eden led to Eden dying that much faster. It’d be something that could haunt Teruko a little bit and make her start thinking about how she pushes people away and what the potential failings of that are. 

The final reason I have is just, like… overall despair. Chapter 2 is usually a pretty emotionally devastating case for the cast. Taka loses Mondo and Chihiro meets a pretty tragic end; Peko dying launches Fuyuhiko into his grief → survivor arc while Hiyoko mourns Mahiru; Kirumi leaves the group feeling guilty about killing the Prime Minister, plus Ryoma’s death as a result of him loving no one and no one loving him is pretty sad. Chapter 2 is typically a chapter in the canon Danganronpa games where things get worse, not better. 

Then, Chapter 3 is used as a processing point where characters that aren’t in it for the long run are usually killed off, and Chapter 4 prompts the characters to start really moving towards the finale (Sakura’s death spurs people to want to fight and makes Byakuya realize why emotions are important, Gundham’s sacrifice sets the tone for Nagito’s insane Chapter 5 play and Gonta’s mercy kill in Chapter 4 directly leads into all the Kokichi “I’m the mastermind” stuff that happens in Chapter 5). 

I suspect DRDT will follow a roughly similar pattern. Because of that, it would make sense if the creator wants to pick a very emotionally devastating second killer, frequently due to the relationships that character has with the cast. Eden is the perfect pick for this position.

Eden has also gotten A LOT of focus this chapter. Getting focus doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to die right then. After all, Charles, for instance, got a lot of focus in Chapter 1, but he’s still alive. It’s difficult to tell when a character is getting content that impacts their character moving forward and when a character is getting focus because their story is about to end. 

In DRDT’s case specifically, though, the creator seems to heavily emphasize a character shortly before they die. Excluding Teruko, Xander was the most visible character in the Chapter 1 daily life. They focused on Min heavily during the Chapter 1 investigation to make sure that she got enough content in before her death. Between her fight with MonoTV, her heartfelt conversation with David, and the conversations she had post-death confronting David about his secret and defending Eden from Arturo, Arei got a lot of focus just before dying, too. 

Eden is one of the most heavily featured characters, and to me, it feels more like one being set up for immediate payoff rather than long-term. 

For example, David’s personality has shifted in a way that’s very interesting. People will want to see how his relationships with other characters are impacted and get to know the “real him” more before any potential death. Because of that, it makes sense that David’s heel turn is being set up for later, rather than being focus on him before he dies in Chapter 2. 

Eden, on the other hand, has shown us pretty much everything she can with this perspective. If she’s already spent two chapters being nice, happy and supportive, where does she go from there that’s narratively interesting and different? The only answer I can really come up with is “becoming less nice, happy, and/or supportive.” If that’s where her character is heading anyways, then doesn’t it make sense that being a killer could be a succinct way to do it? We already have enough people running around who don’t trust people, and it would feel odd to add Eden to that contingent. 

There’s one more story reason that Eden being the killer would make sense here. Check out the Chapter 2 title screen.

It’s pretty faint, but if you look after the “Glitters,” you can see faint text. It’s easier to see if you crank up the exposure.

You can tell what it is if you squint hard enough. Here’s me tracing it: 

“A Good Person.” 

The original chapter title is “All That Glitters,” which is pretty clearly a play on the saying “All that glitters is not gold” (RIP to anyone who just heard “all that glitters is gold in All Star by Smashmouth and didn’t question it. I was with you there). That seemingly applies a lot to this chapter, with appearances of success not being what they seem. It relates to the fact that J’s celebrity wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and David’s persona was too good to be true. 

The good person interpretation is interesting, too. If you input “A Good Person” into “All That Glitters,” you get “A good person is not gold.” Now, there’ve been a lot of characters who’ve claimed to be or mentioned wanting to be good people over the course of this chapter. However, I think the person most at the center of that is Eden, who’s been called a good or kind person by a lot of people– at the very least, I know Teruko, Arei and Levi do this.

Eden being the killer would be another way to show that people can’t be infallibly good. Again, I don’t think Eden’s gonna pull a 180 and suddenly become evil, I just think she’ll show a little more nuance. Her being suddenly evil does about the same thing for me as her being undeniably good; it reduces her character down to one trait rather than making her a full human. I don’t want her to be a pure cinnamon roll, I want her to be herself. 

Given this chapter title, I honestly think it’d be weirder if Eden didn’t do something notably Not Good this chapter. There could be other options, too, but Eden being the killer seems by far the most likely to me.

Topic 3: Relationships

I want to talk about Eden’s relationships to others in the cast. I’ve already mentioned Teruko a good bit, so I’m not really going to keep going over that. There are two others that I want to touch on.

One, Eden and Hu are known to be friends. They wash dishes together every night, and they generally seem to rely on each other for companionship and mutual help with steering the group in a more positive direction. Hu is someone who hasn’t gotten that much character arc focus, so I think she’ll probably be a bit more of a spotlighted character in the next daily life. Hu has already lost a friend and trusted co-leader in David, but I think it’d be even more interesting for her if she loses both of those people at once. With David in full-on evil theater kid mode and Eden dead as the killer, Hu will be forced to grapple with the fact that both of the people she trusted to help her guide the group not only aren’t helping her anymore, but did so in a way that betrayed her and her trust. 

That’s very speculative, though. The main relationship I’m here to analyze is with Arei, the victim of the case in question.

Arei and Eden have a very complicated relationship. At first, they were pretty neutral. Then, after the cake scene, Arei appeared to be jealous of Eden and her friends for, y’know, having friends. Later, when Eden tries to invite Arei, Arei goes off on Eden and Eden runs out of the room crying. Finally, when Arturo threatens Eden into silence over his secret, Arei shows up and promises to defend Eden and do whatever it takes to assure her that her friendship is real.

This is pretty much the entirety of Arei’s character arc. Because we know that Arei is the second victim, I want to examine that in the context of the canon games’ storylines in Chapter 2.

Chapter 2 frequently deals with the concept of bullying. Kirumi’s kinda doing her own thing here, but if you look at Mondo/Chihiro and especially Peko/Mahiru (and all the lore behind that one), it’s pretty standard. Chihiro is someone who I’m pretty sure has been bullied, and Mondo fits the bully role well enough. SDR2 is the big one, though, with Mahiru being bullied by Natsumi, Sato killing Natsumi because of that, then Peko killing Sato under Fuyuhiko’s command in revenge, and THEN Peko killing Mahiru in the killing game as even more revenge. So, let’s look at bullying in DRDT Chapter 2.

The big and obvious one is Ace and Nico. Ace bullied Nico, and eventually they snapped and tried to kill him in revenge. That means that the creator, at least in this case, opted for a situation where the bullied kills the bully, rather than the other way around.

Arei also bullies Eden notably in Chapter 2, and now she’s dead. I’m not saying that it has to be the same thing, but I think it would be interesting to parallel Ace and Arei and Nico and Eden. Ace, with his fear of death, would have to process just how close he came to being a victim, seeing the same thing play out with Arei, who actually did die. Nico, who’s trying to dodge any actual blame for their crime, would see Eden get executed for doing roughly the same thing. 

That’s something to address, though. What does this all mean for Eden? After all, Eden and Arei were friends now. It seems uncharacteristic of her to kill Arei for any reason. If I’m going to focus in on Eden’s character relationships, I really have to address that part.

Well, my answer is pretty simple. Eden simply didn’t believe her relationship with Arei actually changed. This might seem like an unfair claim at first, but if you look into it, it’s actually quite supported by the game.

Arei certainly thought Eden didn’t believe Arei’s sudden change of heart. She even goes as far as to call Eden out for it in the moment.

That’s not a very good argument though, is it? It disregards everything that happens afterwards, what with Arei explaining more and Eden hugging her and saying that her promise means “more than she knows.” It’s possible Arei convinced Eden during that second segment, so there’s not really any reason to believe that Eden didn’t believe her anymore.

Except…

Charles gets cut off by Whit here and immediately shuts up, which is played off as a joke. It is a joke, but I’ve noticed the DRDT creator is very good at putting in jokes that actually convey important information moving forwards. 

The fact that the creator put in not one, but two references to Eden possibly not believing Arei makes me think there’s more to it than making a joke or moving dialogue along. Whit even phrases it as “you wanna do that later?” which might be a hint that we actually are going to come back to that point of conversation later. 

For the record, I do think it’s also possible that Eden sort of half-believed Arei. She might’ve been committed to a murder plan by that point or something, so even if she thought Arei was being genuine, it’s possible she intentionally tried to convince herself Arei wasn’t genuine. That gets more into character interpretation, though.

Topic 4: Character Arc

This is the biggest one, in my opinion. If Eden is going to die here, what does her story say? Ignoring the big plot beats, Eden should get to have her own character arc, and if this is its conclusion, I want to look at where it went.

In the prologue, Eden is noted to stay positive, but she seems to be the most scared of the killing game itself. Here’s her slide from the official Prologue Recap video: 

In Chapter 1, we honestly didn’t see too much of Eden. What we did see was mostly her being nice and friendly. It was also established that Arei picked on her. Here’s her slide from the Chapter 1 Recap video:

Notably, the creator paired all the characters up for Chapter 1. We already know Arei is going to be important to Eden’s story, whether she’s the killer or not. They did pair up Xander and Min though, so it’s not like it’s impossible that they paired a victim with their killer.

Anyways, that means that, going into Chapter 2, the things the creator wanted us to remember about Eden are that she’s nice, cheerful, and one of the people who defended Teruko. Through Arei’s slide, we’re also encouraged to remember that Arei picked on Eden specifically for baking. (Arei also manipulated Levi in that scene pretty heavily, but Eden is the one they want us to remember.)

Where does Eden’s character arc go from there? Well, I’d say that she basically doubles down. 

Eden basically spends the chapter trying really hard to prevent conflict and stay friends/befriend everyone. She blackmails Teruko for the sole purpose of actually getting to hang out with her, she washes dishes with Hu, she makes breakfast with Levi, and she invites Arei to clockmaking to make sure she isn’t left out again. 

That means that Eden’s story in Chapter 2 is that she’s trying to be the one to get everyone through this hard time.

Because of that, killing seems rather counterproductive. After all, Eden’s been trying to end the killing game on her own terms, right? 

However, it’s possible that the message the creator wants to send us is that the cast isn’t currently capable of being entirely positive and friendly. While David pretended that the point of revealing all their secrets was so that they could get along, that was a lie. Eden being the killer would fit the messaging: with this cast, in this killing game, friendships aren’t a possibility right now. 

Would it be a change in Eden for her to kill now? Yes, of course. That’s how it goes with killers beyond Chapter 1; something changes that prompts them to kill. Like I examined earlier, I believe the motive of getting back to her previous life, in combination with the constant fighting, Arturo's threats against her and her apparent inability to actually make a meaningful change in those around her, would be enough to get her to break and kill in this Chapter 2 position.

I’ve talked about motive, overall narrative, Eden’s relationships and her character arc. That’s pretty much everything, but there’s one more big point I feel I need to touch on.

Topic 5: Eden’s Breakdown

This is what I assume makes people have the biggest problem with Eden culprit theory from a writing standpoint. After all, this is a very emotional moment and feels very important for Eden’s character arc. If she’s the killer, it would all be a lie, and it would invalidate everything we learned about Eden from this moment.

Except, I don’t think that’s fully true. It’s very possible to have a killer have an emotional breakdown moment mid-trial that makes them seem more innocent, but actually very much relates to the fact that they did kill. 

Even if she is a killer, I still believe Eden is a good person. Because of that, I think that she is genuinely haunted by Arei’s death, as well as Min’s. In fact, we know she’s haunted by Min’s death, before any of this Arei trial stuff happened. 

Given the fact that Eden runs out of the room crying after this, I think it’s fair to say that Arei’s words stuck with Eden. Because of that, pairing it with Eden’s breakdown in the trial, we can conclude that Eden feels guilty for both Min’s death and Arei’s death. Because Min’s death wasn’t Eden’s fault, it’s easy to disregard both as her blaming herself for things out of her control. 

It could be genuine this time, though. If Eden is the killer, at least some of that speech has to be fake (ex. When I saw that note, I knew someone must’ve overheard our conversation). However, what’s really interesting to me is what happens after the main part of Eden’s breakdown.

David goes on a little rant about how the victim would have to be incredibly stupid to actually fall for the note– or they’d have to be Arei, who wanted to be friends so desperately that she’d believe anything “Eden” told her. Afterwards, Eden says this: 

This is Eden agreeing with David’s rant. The non-killer interpretation of this is that Eden is just repeating the same thing, saying that Arei died because of her and her weakness. But, if you look at it from a different perspective, the phrasing is… a little odd?

In her speech earlier, what Eden said boiled down to “I couldn’t defend myself, and because Arei was nice to me and tried to defend me, she died.” Then, David says, “Because Arei wanted to be your friend, she died.” That’s basically the same information and logic, right? 

But Eden asks it as a question. Even though she said “it’s all my fault” earlier, this time she asks, “it really is my fault, isn’t it?” That means that there was something Eden didn’t know in David’s rant.

This could be several things, but I think the most likely thing is that, in my opinion, this is the point at which Eden realized that Arei was genuine about wanting to be her friend. Before this, she still wasn’t sure that Arei was being real, and that allowed her to proceed forward with her plan, keeping it together. However, once David, who got to see Arei in her breakdown, confirms that, yeah, Arei did that because she genuinely wanted to be Eden’s friend, Eden realizes that it was her fault. 

Arei wanted to be her friend, but now she’s dead, and it’s all Eden’s fault.

Interestingly, immediately after that last line, Teruko starts talking, bringing us back to mystery-solving mode. However, if you look at Eden while Teruko’s talking, she’s sobbing. 

Most of the time when a character is shown to the side, they’re left in whatever pose they were last in. For example, look at MonoTV making the :| face back there despite it having no relevance to the current point of the trial. In fact, MonoTV has that face for the entirety of Chapter 2, Episode 10. The last time MonoTV talked was in Episode 9, where…

Yeah, same face. It doesn’t change from there. My point is that, switching Eden’s sprite from the face-on, holding her wrist sprite to the sobbing and wiping her tears sprite is a conscious decision. They want to make sure we know that Eden is sobbing after that interaction with David. While that could be prolonged guilt from generally feeling at fault for Arei’s death, I think it makes more sense if it’s her coping with the fact that Arei did want to be her friend, and she killed her. 

Conclusion

Well, that’s my defense of Eden culprit theory from a writing perspective. Hopefully it was fun to read, whether you agree with it or not. Again, my point here isn’t to shame anyone who disagrees or anything, it’s to provide reasoning for why Eden could be the culprit and to defend the creator’s decision if that is the truth of this case. I’d love to hear about any and all other killer theories as well in order to have the greatest chance of catching the real criminal.

[cybertron-smash-or-pass]

Okay so I'm in hospital for lung surgery and SO mad how many polls I've missed bc of this crap grrr

Anyways - which poll result surprised you the most (positively) and which one shocked you the most (negatively) ?

As someone who hasn't seen TF: One yet, I'm fascinated by how hard people simp for that specific Sentinel. Y'all are setting the bar really high for him lol

--- Thunderwave

Shit man, hope your surgery goes well (or went well, whatever state you're in by the time this gets posted)

In terms of positive, Im honestly pretty happy the graham burns post exploded as hard as it did. I still get notes on that fucking thing. Graham Burns is eternal and will never die. I was really happy he got a majority smash vote, I wasn't expecting him to even clear 50% given he's a human character AND he's rendered in that particular artstyle. He's my fucking BOYFRIEMD, my skrunkly, my sweet cheese, my special little guy, my silly rabbit. I am Unwell about that funny little man and I simply hope the vote on him gets more people to watch rescue bots and also get obsessed with his completely swagless cringefail bisexual charm.

In terms of negative, I'm never really THAT miffed when a poll doesnt go the way I expected, but I gotta say I really thought more people were horny for tfa lockdown? Like. He's a dirtbag kinda neutral bad boy with a deep husky voice and a general jerkass demeanor, and I've seen more porn of that guy than I can keep track of. I kind of thought everyone wanted to see him seducing prowl and/or swindle. And then the poll went up and he didn't even hit the 50% mark. Like girl What Happened, how did she flop that hard 😔

Also god yeah, tfone sentinel earned that number for a reason. No spoilers but MAN, he is fun to watch. Incredibly well written character, I want to chuck him against a wall 💖

[yeehawfm]

glenn powell, thirty three, he/him  │  there they go,  THE FIREBRAND,  greenhike’s own  LINCOLN “LINK”  REEVES. they’ve lived around here for  10 YEARS,  but i mostly see them frequenting  WRAITH’S DEN. if you stop to chat with them, don’t be surprised if they're  LION-HEARTED  and  HOT HEADED,  since people often say they remind them of  THE TWISTED SENSE OF CHAOS AND CALM YOU GET FROM LOOKING AT A FIRE, A WELL WORN LEATHER JACKET AND THE RUSH OF ADRENALINE FROM BEING ON STAGE. there’s rumors that they’re at greenhike because  [redacted] do you think it’s true  ? ( PARI/29/SHE/HER/EST )

MORE BELOW THE CUT

BASIC NOTES: 

full name: lincoln gregory reeves

nicknames: link

age: 33

dob: march 26

hometown: dallas, texas

current location: greenhike

occupation: musician, part time bartender

voiceclaim: zach bryan

gender: cis-male

pronouns: he/him

sexuality: bisexual

status: single

health status: physically healthy, mentally has general anxiety disorder & ptsd

theme song: american nights - zach bryan

pets: has a labrador retriever named cash

PERSONALITY NOTES:

negative traits: hot headed, chaotic, lost

positive traits: lion-hearted, charismatic, charming

hobbies: writing music, playing guitar, football, baseball, billiards, drinking whiskey, reading (though he'd never admit it)

aesthetic: leather jackets, belt buckles, cowboy hats, toothpicks

PHYSICAL NOTES:

face claim: glen powell

hair color: dusty blonde

eye color: green

height: 6'

build: athletic

CHARACTER NOTES:

former firefighter from 18-23 was forced to stop after a roof cave in during a fire that left him with a crush injuries. afterward he suffered from panic attacks and nightmares about the accident.

came to greenhike after the anxiety and ptsd diagnosis as a way to claim his fresh start, finding that music had always been the one thing that drowned out all the noise.

so, he starting playing his music with a small band at the wraith's den for the bar-goers where he earned himself a steady and paid slot every friday night. it's not a lot of money but it's enough to get by when he's not bartending. plus, he's got everything else he needs at greenhike since he tends to go there daily anyway.

a bit of a local celebrity anyone that comes through wraith's den knows who he is and with that, he's probably flirted or slept with them.

a chaotic mess truly: if you need a villain in your story, he can be it. if you need someone to be your dirty secret, he can be it. if you need someone to fight next to you, he can be it.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

band members: drums, bass, piano, etc. he's the lead singer & guitarist.

exes: though real relationships are few and far between he's certainly been in a few that he's probably done them dirty

hook ups: open to any number of people, he flirts and tries to get with just about anyone

the one that got away: the only person to really give him a run for his money so much so that they're pretty much his perfect match and he regrets it every day

roommate: living on the southside on a musicians budget he needs a roommate to keep a float

ride or die: the only person that gets him for more than just the local flirt, they see the real him

competition: anyone else who performs at wraith's den trying to take away his audience (even if they're not)

anything else is open!

[misssleepless12]

A03 Wrapped 2023 Edition

This is technically an ask game but I'm just gonna answer some of these here bc 2023 was a super big year for me in terms of how much I wrote!! And I'm just kinda proud of my silly self hehehe <3

How many works did you publish this year? 14! I wrote for four different fandoms! Blue Lock, Persona 3, PKMN Black and White, and PKMN Scarlet and Violet.

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? I've written so many things I'm proud of this year, but I'm gonna have to say riptide ! rnis in Rin's hometown of Kamakura, but I did sooo much research for it and put so much effort into it and then wrote it all in a three weeks in a massive brainrot streak hahah.

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most? Ohhh god time to embarrass myself again but the Chainsmokers was my top artist of 2023 and I also used so many of their lyrics and songs for inspiration. As evidence above hahaha~

Pairing you wrote the most for this year? In terms of number of fics, it's rnis/rinsagi at 4! But in terms of word count, otkr/tabieita came from the back with the surprise win!

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year? The surprise contender that was tabieita hahah

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year? Haha, haha.... ha. I'm sitting at five fully started/outlined ones already... oh boy XD

What work was the quickest to write? Gold Star for Effort which took me like four hours djfndkj

What work took you the longest to write? Pull in Case of Bisexual Awakening at five and a half months!

Your favorite character to write this year? Otoya Eita, my beloved womanizing green noodle ninja hahah

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? Bris/ barousagi bug bit me recently so I know that wave of brainrot is coming!

Which work of yours have you reread the most? let's admit, without apology, what we do to each other .... my comfort fic

How many kudos in total did you get this year? 2,096! The most I've ever gotten in a single year and nearly half of what I've gotten altogether!

What do you listen to while writing? I have a bunch of character or ship playlists I made that I like to listen to! I also sometimes just throw rain sounds in the background too pfft.

Favorite work you wrote this year? Once again... Pull in Case of Bisexual Awakening! Literally changed the course of my year both in terms of my real life and my creative one writing that bad boy!

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? He is rawer, nowadays, somewhat like when Sae first rejected him but also not. ‘Somewhat’ because he still aches all the time, ‘not’ because he embraces it. All wound. No boy. No need for anyone to stem his bleeding because Rin’s at his best when he’s bleeding, when he can be obscene, when he can destroy. - from final boys

Biggest surprise while writing this year? That once I figured out a good process for going from idea-outline-actual writing to finished product, I was so impressed with the amount of writing I was actually capable of! I've always been a notoriously slow writer, which led to me not being able to post super often prior to 2023 But I really hammered out a writing process that works for me and I did the best I could with it I think! I hope to improve upon it this year and hopefully get a better handle of keeping my word counts in check too (chronic over-writer here dkjfndjk).

2023 was such a big wild year for my writing and I can only hope I keep up the energy in 2024. It was such a blast and I appreciate everyone who supported me through all the ups and downs!! <3

[kickingitwithkirk]

Greetings from Austin

Summary: Jensen and Jared are at odds over a monumental decision that changes their lives in a way they couldn’t have envisioned.

Pairing: Alpha!Jensen Ackles x Alpha!Jared Padalecki x Omega!OFC

Word Count: 2161

Warnings: a/b/o, J2 are married/mated, homophobia, bisexuality, biphobia, outdated beliefs, angst, cursing, jealousy, depression/anxiety, medical stuff, sexual dysfunction, infertility, IVF, surrogacy, subgender inequality

*additional warnings to be added in future parts.

Square filled: Non-traditional Alpha Traits @spnabobingo Maid Au @spnaubingo

A/N: Here we go again with one my weird as hell dreams, series Inspired by this art.

A/N II: There is no intentional hate or malevolence intended towards any of the Ackles or Padalecki families. This is a purely fictional piece containing real and created persons/names/events set in the fictional A/B/O verse. Some dates/events altered to fit story.

A/N III: thank you to everyone for hanging in there since it’s taken me ages to drop a new character, I’ve been doing rewrites/updating on all my series, more to come in future.

*no beta-all mistakes are mine

*divider by @writeyourmindaway​​​​​​

*images found online

Part IV

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

“DON'T YA’ BE YELLING AT ME, MR. MAN, EVEN IF THIS IS YOUR FUCKING HOUSE…”

“I gotta go,” tossing his phone on the bedside table, Jared, wearing his blessed socks, runs across the main room and slides on the hardwood floor into the kitchen and saw his husband standing three feet from Quinn as she’s vigorously gesturing with a paring knife while telling him off in her colorful language.

“Put the knife down!” The older Alpha’s voice resonates through the room, making Jared flinch, feeling the command’s power, watching Quinn set it on the counter and Jensen reach over, sliding it towards him.

She stood a bit longer before blinking in confusion, and then her demeanor shifted to madder than a wet hen, her natural lower voice dropped another octave, and the lilt became very pronounced. “Don’t ya’ ever use that fucking voice on me again!” 

“You were threatening me with a knife!” Jensen picks up the item, making her laugh, “Holy fucking shit, are ya’ serious? Ya’ could barely use it for a toothpick, let alone...” 

Jared stood there, mouth hanging open, have’n seen others take on his mate, wrongfully assuming he’d be the easier of the two to intimidate, but when let off its leash, Jensen's wolf made Dean Winchester look like a pussy cat.

“JARED!”

The younger Alpha's mouth snapped shut, “sorry, what?”

“I asked you what the surrogate is doing here?”

“The surrogate has a name.” 

 “What is Quinn doing here?”

 “So..uh..okay,” Jared slowly starts around the island doing his sometimes awkward, hesitant thing.  “A few days ago, I got a call from this number I didn’t recognize. It was about the ultrasound appointment scheduled while you were in LA.” 

He paused to see if Jensen remembered, and yep, his mate was wearing his get to the fucking point expression.

“They informed me she’d canceled it because she was leaving town.” 

Jensen's attention returned to the O, ”Don’t fucking start on me again, Ackles!”

“You know who I am?” 

“Duh, Sherlock!” 

Jensen would later try to justify it was jet lag and surprise finding their surrogate in their home, not her smart-ass mouth, for snarling at her.

“Och, save it for the cameras, drama queen. Ya’ put pants on just like the rest of us; the only difference is yours have designer labels.”

Jared interrupted the speeding downhill faster than an Olympic bobsledder situation, “I remembered her saying something about managing Mulroney’s Bookstore, so I called Clif to see if he’d get her to contact me and calls back saying some Alpha...” 

“...who’s a flaming jackass!”

“Yeah, that’s what Clif called him. Anyways, he claimed to be the manager and had no idea where she was when another employee said they knew where she was living...”

“... that’s when ya’ boy shows up..”

“…I explained about the mixup...”

“…Padalecki followed me to my room to get the new date, then he caused a scene...”

“...I couldn’t help my wolf freaking out at where my..our pups were living...”

“…told ya’ it was there or the I-35 underpass!”

Jared bristled at the reminder, “The door had three locks, a barely functional heater, and a broken fridge. Cockroaches wouldn’t even live there!”

Quinn raises onto the balls of her feet and loudly reminds him about putting her in the shitter with the manager and getting fired when Jared shouts back in his booming voice, “there was a guy by the ice machine offering to sell me heroin!!”

“ENOUGH!” Jensen's Alpha voice echoes throughout the kitchen, quieting them both.

“She’s right,” Jared opened his mouth to retort, but Jensen countered with, “And so are you. Quinn, couldn’t your family help,” the Alphas wrinkled their noses at her souring scent, so he attempted another approach. 

“I want to clear something up. I recall one of the stipulations for surrogates is that they reside in an appropriate domicile. Why were you living in a motel? Could you tell us what happened?”

“The flaming jackass tipped off the landlord I’m an O, and that fucker evicted me even though I never caused any problem or was late with rent.”

“There is a moratorium on evictions..”

“..that moratorium is a fucking joke!”  

“What a minute,” Jensen said, and at the same time, Jared remarked, “It protects people...”

“Newsflash, Mr. Wizard, was created by and for the protection of Alphas and Betas! Take a hot minute to read the fine print, and you’ll find loopholes granting landlords, to quote, discretionary privileges pertaining to the eviction of those designated with the sub-gender Omega. In other words, they can boot O’s for any damn reason!” She gave the Alphas a hard stare, “So, enlighten me as to why y’all didn’t know a fucking thing about that bit?”

The kitchen got quiet as the Alphas glanced at each other, trying to find a non-assholey-sounding response. “Yeah, that’s what I thought; since it’s well known you two prefer Betas.” Quinn addressed the older Alpha.

“Padalecki and I have an arrangement. I keep the house and do meals in exchange for temporary boarding. No need to fret that pretty head of yours, Ackles; I’ll do me damnedest to stay outta the way."

🐿️🫎🐿️🫎🐿️🫎🐿️🫎🐿️🫎🐿️🫎🐿️🫎🐿️🫎🐿️🫎

December 23rd                                                                                                   Late Afternoon

Quinn heard Jensen’s surprised greeting covering the stewpot of goulash, slid it into the oven to stay warm, and peeked around the wall and saw him in the foyer hugging a small, older O, then a tall, bald Alpha carrying several bags crossed over to them.

“Let me help you with those, sir,” she offered, taking them couldn’t help but overhear his not-subtle sniff, “Jensen, who’s this?”

“Umm,” Jensen scratched the back of his neck, fumbling for a response, “this is the housekeeper, Quinn.”  His mother-in-law peered inquisitively at the tall Omega before asking, “What happened to your boys' service?”

“I worked for it.”

Gerald Padalecki dubiously eyed the O up and down as she continued. “They pared down the staff, and Jared offered to retain me in exchange for lodging...”

“You live with them?” Gerald barked, “Jensen, that’s unwise considering...”

“Considering what Gerry,” his mate sharply asks, “the boys wouldn’t let someone stay they couldn’t trust.”

 “I normally wouldn’t question their judgment, but she's an unmated O.”

“Whoa,’ Jensen jumped in, “are you suggesting that Jared or I...” 

“Mama..daddy..what’re y’all doing here?” Jared couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice, wrapping his long arms around his mother, “thought you were coming tomorrow.” 

“We decided to surprise you but got it instead.” Gerald’s gruff reply made Jared throw his husband a confused look, catching a whiff of his dad and Jensen, “What’s going on?”

“I bet y’all would like to freshen up after your trip.” Quinn blurted out, “Jensen, would you help me with their luggage, please.”

Taking the car keys, he follows her out the door, remarking, “you think fast, coming up with that story.”

“Ya’ were about to lose ya' shit on your father-in-law, and I didn’t precisely fib, just moved a few facts around,” Quinn shoots back, grabbing a bag while Jensen, fuming, retrieves the other, following her to the guest house.

How could the Alpha he considered his father even think, after everything they’d been through, found his dark thoughts distracted by two simultaneous acts; a deflating blow-up bed and his bewildered husband storming in shouting, “What the fuck was that?”

Jensen ticked his head towards the O and made the finger-in-hole gesture.

 “I’ve gotten that shit since I presented,” the pair look towards Quinn with confused expressions. “Loads of Alphas still carry antiquated beliefs about unmated O’s, and I’m…pick an adjective to fill in the blank.”

“So much for a peaceful holiday,” Jensen grumbled.

“Yeah, too bad ya’ boy stuck his nose where it didn’t belong, right?” Quinn's tone was caustic. “I don’t want to be a bone of contention with ya' family. I’ll figure somewhere else to stay.”

Jared’s wolf simmers under his skin, “How? You have $636.96 in your account. That won’t cover a security deposit, let alone fir..” 

“How the fuck ya’ know what’s in my account?!”

“Your laptop was open...”

“...and ya’ snooped...”

“...I happened to see it...”

“...still not your fucking problem...”

“...you’re carrying my..our pups, that makes it my fucking..”

“...ya’ are the most unfucking...”

“I’m tired of y’alls motherfucking bitching, so shut the fuck up!!” 

Jensen wrinkles his nose, “Dude, dial it down; you’re stinking up the joint! And Quinn, Jared screwed up...”

“I never asked...”

“...doesn’t matter! He's trying to make amends, for fuck sake!” Jensen felt the vein in his left temple throbbing again.

“There will be many people dropping in or staying with us this fucking week, and this is how we’re all going to handle our situation.”

🫎🐿🫎🐿🫎🐿🫎🐿🫎🐿🫎🐿🫎🐿🫎🐿🫎🐿

January 15th

“Humph,” Jensen jerked awake, slapping a hand around, and found his phone before cracking an eye open.

7:18 A.M.

Groaning, he dropped face-first into his pillow and wrestled his mates over his head to muffle the noise, but the pearls of his pup's laughter signaled he wouldn’t sleep much longer.

His fuzzy brain's insistence that coffee was more imperative than a shower has Jensen sleepily shuffling around the oversized couches, once again grateful they’d decided to move their bedroom to the main floor, spots the group in the kitchen muttered too damn early.

“That’s a bad word, Daddy,” JJ says, her frown a replica of his, “you owe the swear jar.”

“Your right, Birdie, sorry,” dropping a kiss on top of her and the twins' heads, stepping around them, pouring himself a mug, “remind me to pay it later.” 

Hopping up on the counter, Jensen sips his coffee, savoring the black elixir rolling over his taste buds; he feels the caffeine penetrate his system, working its magic to turn his morning grumpyass into a civilized human watching his brood.

JJ and Arrow are busily festooning Quinn’s long, wonky braided hair with ribbons. Zeppelin and Icarus are sitting on the O’s lap, watching something on his iPad that's precariously balanced against her feet; felt his wolf purr in contentment, starting him when his mate materializes and gives him an odd look.

“Alright, y’all,” hopping off the counter, Jensen scoops up his son and flies him around, making airplane sounds, “Uncle Jeff and Aunt H/W/N will be here soon. What do all of you need to do before going?”

“Brush teeth and hair,” Arrow says, then looks at JJ, “grab our snacks from the fridge,” she reminds her, “and put them into our backpacks.” 

“And do bath break!” Zep giggles as Jensen hands the pup to his mate and quietly says, “I wanna discuss something with Quinn.”

Jared reaches through their bond and finds a placidity in Jensen he hasn’t had for so long, but before he can deduce the causation, he gets distracted by the twins' squeals and escorts the pups upstairs. 

Quinn eyes the older Alpha while securing a hair tie around her long braids, “what the fuck I do this time, Ackles?”

“Jared mentioned something about your leaving..”

“...I know ya' expected me gone before now...”

 “...ya’ know what I expect?” Jensen snaps, mimicking her subtle accent, “I expect you to stop interrupting and let me get something out for fucking once! Now, could we please discuss this without fighting?”

Sitting at the dining room table, she says nothing, watching Jensen refill his coffee, grab another mug, and drops in a spoon of honey before pouring the brewed tea from the kettle, “Ya’ know how I take me tea?”

“I’m not a completely unobservant asshole,” Jensen self-deprecates, “you make a damn good cup of coffee,” he said, carrying both mugs over. “And I’m astonished how you balance everything, working at Emmer and Rye while keeping up with our hectic schedules. And what did you do to Jared?” Quinn looked confused, “you got him to put his wet clothes in the laundry instead of leaving them all over the bath. You’re either a witch or a goddamn miracle worker!”

“I gave him two options. Leave’um in the laundry or find itching powder in his clothing.”

“He’d just borrow my stuff...”

“...he did, once.” 

“So, you?

“Clif said ya’ boy spent the day denying it was jock itch.” 

Jensen was still laughing when the quartet came back downstairs, so Quinn placed both forearms on the table, leaning forward, and spoke softly, “okay, Ackles, the fucks going on with this little tête-à-tête? Cause ya’ been freaked the fuck out the entire time, so,” nodding to her mug, “What’s with the buttering up?”

“It’s about not leaving...”

“Quinns not gonna leave?” Jensen whipped around to find Arrow bouncing excitedly beside him, then she suddenly raced towards the front door, yelling, “Papa Jared, Daddy’s got Quinn to stay with us!”  

Jared stood there scrutinizing the seated duo with an indecipherable expression.

“Looks like ya’ the one dropping me in the shitter this time, Ackles.”

tbc

Part V

SPN TAGS: @donnaintx  @lyarr24  @flamencodiva  @b3autyfuldisast3r  @lassie-bird @nancymcl  @spnbaby-67  @leigh70

Sam/Jared:  @idreamofplaid Dean/Jensen:  @thoughts-and-funnies  @stoneyggirl2  @akshi8278  @beabutterfly987 @smoothdogsgirl @siospins2

GFA: @babypink224221 @waywardjoy @let-me-luve-you @all-4-wincest @ladysparkles78

[heatwa-ves]

top 5 doctor who episodes

allowing myself to group 2 parters into one for this bc otherwise the entire list would be just the S9 finale. also it's 10 not 5 because I have too many opinions

1. face the raven/heaven sent/hell bent. to the surprise of no one it's the twelveclara episodes at my number one 💖 heaven sent the best timeloop episode ever. he spent four and a half BILLION years dying over and over and over for a chance at bringing clara back to life. and then he was gonna do to her what he did to donna but she reversed the polarity (doctorification of clara oswald. hello. can you hear me) and he lost his memory of her!!!!!! and the diner scene!!! references to impossible astronaut!!! "I think it's called Clara"!!!!!! Every single thing ever!!!!! claras third insane immortal lesbian situationship!!!! Rigsy!!!! It's the best written episodes ever I'll never recover

2. the empty child/the doctor dances she's got everything! christopher eccleston being excellent as always I miss him. dancing as a metaphor for bisexuality and polyamory! captain jack!! no monster!! just this once everyone lives!! a beautifully hopeful ending!! genuinely scary at times!! great minor characters!! rewatching this last november is what got me back into dw it's That Good

3. flatline CLARAAAA CLARA CLARA ITS A CLARA EPISODE. the doctor is her little purse dog. rigsy being great. scary ass monsters. clara being everything. this kickstarting my favorite plotline. beginning of claras doctorification. "goodness had nothing to do with it." clara lying to her boyfriend because she's fucking insane and still dedicated to maintaining her actively failing relationship with a guy she never loved. The ending scene. Clara.

4. mummy on the orient express twelveclaraisms 💖 this episode has everything the drama the intrigue the murder mystery the orient express IN SPACE! MAISIE!!!!! one of my fav side characters! such incredible lines "everything would be easier if we liked the people we're meant to like, but then there'd be no fairy tales" twelve getting clara to lie to maisie that she can be saved!!! more doctorification!!! THE I LOVE YOU SCENE. CLARA OSWALD. SHAKES YOU. god it's everything. have I mentioned Maisie. I love Maisie. claras hair and outfit

5. deep breath more twelveclaraisms idk what you expected from me. claras perfect outfits. the beginning of the best dynamic ever. peter capaldis first episode! a dinosaur! jenny and vastra!!! moral questions!! missys first appearance!! and of course the final scene!! the final scene of this episode is THE best twelveclara scene perhaps the best dw scene in general

6. world enough and time/the doctor falls I have never cried so much 👍👍👍👍👍 canonical selfcest which is not addressed enough that was insane. awesome premise the cybermen returning in tandem with the master to once again reflect their relationship with the doctor in a twisted version of humanity! Missy!!! Everything about missy!!! goodness without hope without witness without reward!! her death as the perfect scene that her whole arc has built up to!! everything about bill!!! at least she got a happy ending god bless immortal lesbianisms. I feel sick.

7. amys choice amy centric episode 💖💖💖💖💖 really really good what else can I say. It was one of the first dw episodes I watched several years ago and its still a banger. can we talk about how she killed herself rather than live in a world without rory. "this can't be reality because rory isn't here and if it is reality I don't want it" perfect episode no notes

8. the waters of mars it's so fucking good there's nothing else to say. really good standalone episode even if you've never seen any other dw.

9. silence in the library/forest of the dead beginning of the river arc!!! impeccable doctordonna chemistry as always they work so well together it's astounding. really compelling and interesting!!!!! it's so good!!!!! another one that's worth watching even if you haven't seen any other dw

10. the angels take manhattan okay listen. hear me out. it's objectively kind of bad because of the awful awful massacre of the angels lore BUT I will ignore that because every single amy and rory scene is pure perfection. another contender for best dw scene. the last scene with amy makes no sense because eleven and river were looking at the angel so it shouldn't have been able to move but ill ignore that because its sooooo good. I love amy I love rory. worst part of the episode is that she changes her name to amelia williams tho she would not fucking do that. it's rory pond not amy williams.

honourable mentions: smith & jones, utopia, every single episode in S4, the eleventh hour, vincent and the doctor, the girl who waited, the god complex, the lodger, listen, thin ice, oxygen, twice upon a time. ANYWAY!!!!

[phantomoftheorpheum]

hii 🩷 do you have any ideas about who could’ve leaked the girls’s phone numbers? or maybe that storyline isn’t as important as i think.

and i agree, if shawn isn’t bad in any way and they’ve just had noa go through this infidelity (bisexual stereotype) storyline with jen, that’s really rough and would turn me off of noa honestly 😅 i seem to be in the minority on that though.

at first i was so not into the church storyline but it definitely seems like some cult weirdness is going to happen so i’m looking forward to that. for once i agree with greg lmao. i will say, it still surprises me that no one calls out how weird it is that greg was saying karen and is now dating kelly. why does no one care? lol

who do you think would be the most surprising person connected to bloody rose? i think ash or henry. but it is weird how little screen time shawn is getting. but on the other hand, chip had a a good amount of screen time early on. the only knew character i would be surprised by is christian, just bc it seems too obvious and recycled from chip.

Hi Nonny! So happy you brought this up, because I’ve definitely been thinking about it and now you’ve prompted me to put down those thoughts in words.

First of all, I do think the numbers thing matters. If there weren’t some sort of personal betrayal going on here, why would they bother to bring it up so much? I don’t think audiences would question how the antagonists got the girl’s numbers if they just didn’t explain/mention it all. A (and in this case, Bloody Rose) has always had somewhat inexplicable access to the Liars. So it does feel relevant. But I wonder if it’s not more likely that the leak came from an established character (Henry, Ash, Shawn, Kelly, etc.) than any of the new characters who got the numbers on camera. Those established characters are the people who I would expect to have ALL of the girl’s numbers, and not just one. On the other hand, it could just be someone got access to one of the girl’s phones, or that “Rose” got that info from multiple sources. Idk, but I think you’re right not to have forgotten about it.

I’m with you on Christian atm. He just seems so obvious and I feel like they’re intentionally making him look suspicious immediately. Maybe they’re trying to make us overthink it (that would be me), but right now he’s low on my list.

Honestly, no clue about the Greg/Kelly thing. I remember thinking how weird it was in season 1, but then so much stuff happened and it just kind of got lost in the background. It IS weird, but I’m not sure if we’re supposed to feel weird about it at this point. It just feels like they didn’t want to waste time trying to explain it, I think?

Yeah, on the Shawn/Noa/Jen sort of love triangle- I’m REALLY not a fan of infidelity plot lines, and I also am not comfortable with the way it reinforces negative stereotypes of bisexuality. Luckily, I’m not particularly invested in Noa/Shawn as a relationship (Mouse/Ash is by far my favorite canon ship), but so far he’s been a very good boyfriend, so it does make me feel bad for him and like that I wish Noa would just break up with him ASAP, if that’s where all this is going.

Speaking of Shawn. His presence/absence is really nagging at me this season. He was in quite a few scenes the first 2 eps, then basically vanished in this one. But they’ve bothered to give him a job with Faran, Greg, and Ash, and why do that (why not just pay another extra?) if they’re phasing the character out? And then him not being at the party… Was the sole reason he wasn’t at Mouse’s birthday because the show wanted Noa/Jen scenes and they weren’t sure how to make it happen if Shawn were there? Because I guess it COULD be that. Maybe they (the writers) just didn’t want him there so we suspect him? I just don’t get why Noa said it wasn’t his scene. Like… Shawn seems to enjoy all the parties in season one and he’s the one who wanted to go to the dance in season one. So does Noa just mean rollerskating? Shawn has always been a very social character. He’s working at the pool and seems to hang out with Ash and Greg. So… you’re telling me that Noa’s long term boyfriend just isn’t going to go? His girlfriend will be there. The guys we see him hang out with the most are there. Faran, who he works with, will be there. Mouse, whose birthday it is, is the girlfriend of one of Shawn’s guy friends AND one of the best friends of Shawn’s girlfriend. Why would he not be there??? I’m just really conflicted on if I think Shawn’s inconsistent presence is plot relevant, or just a casualty of not being very important. Is it just a result of the production making some odd choices? (Okay, you can see my overthinking tendencies in full force here.) My gut says that all of this may point to Shawn being an antagonist, but I think I need to see a little more.

Then about Jen and the money - I brought this thought up in my original post, and after rewatching the scene, Jen specifically says that she and her mom need the money. Mothers & daughters and what they are willing to do for each other is literally the foundation of this show, and so that does seem significant to me. Like I said in my previous post, if Jen is in desperate need of money, is it possible that she’s being paid to get close to Noa again and give someone info? OR are they (the writers) telling us about her financial issues because she WILL do something like this later in the season?

The other two major missing characters during the rollerskating party (Henry and Ash) at least have good reasons that make sense. Henry bails on the party because he’s still upset with Faran for lying to him, so it’s not a surprise he’s not there. Ash is supposed to pick Mouse up, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t already be at the party. (I also did notice Johnny kind of vanishes for a while at the party).

I think Ash would be a really shocking character to be a bad guy. He’s never felt personally connected to the murder/revenge plots. I also think production is probably aware of the negative response in the original show of having the only trans rep end up “evil” (and since they backtracked on Ezra this season, I don’t think they would want to repeat that), but you never know. If there were more trans rep in the show, I would be more suspicious of Ash. Selfishly, I really love Ash and want him around for any possible future seasons, so I don’t want him to be a villain.

I think THE most shocking villain reveal for me, would be if one of Liars’ Moms were involved. I don’t think that’s at all likely (since all their roles seem greatly reduced this season), but it would definitely be completely shocking. But considering their minimal role this season, it would also be disappointing. I think I’m naturally overly suspicious, because everyone I think of, I’m like… “hhhmmm, I could see it.” It would surprise me if Greg were the mastermind behind things.

[snezfics-n-shit]

Sicktember (Belated) Day 22: Terms of Endearment/Nicknames

Fandom: Ace Attorney Characters: Mia Fey, Diego Armando Notes: I have just been informed that today is Bi Visibility Day so as a bisexual myself, I am proud to feature the BISEXUAL POWER COUPLE that is Miego, which should make up for me being late. The events of Terry Fawles’s trial did a number on both Mia’s and Diego’s wellbeing. The two haven’t even been able to see each other for quite a while due to the case’s aftermath. Today is the day they finally have a reunion. Set some time after 3-4, so as long as you’ve played the trilogy, you’re in the clear if you have any concerns about spoilers. If you like the things I write, I always appreciate reblogs and comments; they really make my day!

“You’re just going to make yourself sick, kitten.” 

Diego’s words of warning went unheeded. Mia saw no point in worrying about her health. Why would Mia care about feeling sick after weeks of feeling numb? The disaster of the Fawles trial was over in the eyes of the courthouse, the tears had dried with Mia being unable to produce any more, and all that was left was nothing.  At least being sick would make her feel something. 

She definitely felt something now, that was for sure. Not anything good, but it was a start. Her head was pounding, she felt like she was carrying a backpack of boulders whenever she moved, and breathing through her nose was merely a memory of days long ago. The congestion impacting her ears made her genuinely surprised she could hear the knocking on her apartment door well enough to send her into autopilot and open it. 

“Diego?” She snapped out of said autopilot quite quickly. “What are you doi’g here?” She sniffled deeply before taking a good look at her boyfriend, who seemed almost as unwell as she felt. “You look horrible.” 

“I was just about to say that to you, kitten.” Diego’s voice cracked just as he uttered that signature pet name, an overture to a set of rattling coughs. “You look as if you’re at death’s door.” 

Mia shot a deadpan look at Diego, then simply gestured him inside to join her on the couch. Mia couldn’t think of any past partners she felt comfortable enough with to welcome onto a couch dressed in various unmatching blankets and wadded tissues that missed the trash bin. There must be a first time for everything, though. 

“Get yourself cobfortable.” Mia instructed as she rested her head on Diego’s shoulder. “So, how do you feel?” Normally after asking such a question, it was rude to blow one’s nose before receiving an answer, but Mia and Diego had a silent mutual understanding that the confines of conversation etiquette could be loosened up at times like this. 

“Like shit.” Diego responded tiredly. “I, uh, didn’t really practice what I preached to you.”

“Oh?” Mia smirked, leaning in closer to her boyfriend’s face. She had a look of mock disapproval for his ‘misbehavior,’ as she often put it. “Go on.” 

“Hardly ate, barely slept, just had the Fawles trial playing in my head everyday.” Diego listed. “I take it you’ve been doing the same, kitten?” 

“Sure have.” Maybe Mia would have sounded more ashamed if Diego hadn’t already admitted to his recent hypocrisy. “Is that why you came to see me? To apologize?” 

“Not apologize, exactly. More that I was worried about you.” Diego caressed Mia’s cheek, saying nothing about how warm it was in case she already knew. “You haven’t stepped foot in the office for a couple weeks, and if I let myself get like this, well…” 

“Aw, honey…” 

Diego’s tender displays of affection were cut short as his upper body suddenly lurched forward with his fingers pinching his nose in almost record time. 

“Hgkk’XXTT!! EKCHXXT!!” Diego’s stifling skills could be considered impressive when they weren’t driving Mia crazy. 

“Don’t do that.” Mia scolded him, pouting. “Stifling only gives you a headache.” 

“I can’t help it. It’s a–”

“Force of habit.” Mia finished the sentence she had heard Diego give as an excuse time and time again. “Some habits are meant to be changed, you know.” 

“I mean, you do that thing with your tongue.”

“What thing?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“I really don’t–!! Hiiggkk!! … choo. Hngckk!! … choo.” Mia’s sneezes were punctuated with a thick sniffle, prompting her to blow her nose again.

“That thing!”

“Most people say ‘bless you.’” Mia said as she lightheartedly rolled her eyes.

“‘Don’t do that’ doesn’t sound like a ‘bless you,’ either.” Diego retorted. 

“Well, then, bless you, honey.” 

“And bless you, kitten.”