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shiny-jr · 8 months ago

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VERY IMPORTANT!

THE EVIDENCE.

This announcement pertains to the recent plagiarism incident that I've been dealing with behind the scenes. This announcement will contain the explanation in the form of a timeline, along with evidence (as much as I can provide given that Tumblr has an image limit) of the plagiarism and interactions, as well as what you can do to help. This post will be the evidence post, and you can find the other post of the interaction here:

Interaction post.

If you choose to help, thank you, and please make sure you read the entirety of the two posts for all the information and as I'd like to set some boundaries.

I'll be trying to word things like a court case, but that's really to calm the jitters and make things sound a bit lighthearted as this is currently making me extremely anxious. Do keep in mind that even if I sound relaxed, I'm really not. This is a serious issue, and the first time I've ever had to deal with this type of problem.

Before I go into details, let me say two things. These are IMPORTANT!

Firstly, and most importantly, I do not want anyone to be harassed over this. It is why I have avoided sharing details entirely thus far, as I understand that I have a large following and I do not want to abuse it. This is why I have tried to deal with the issue in private until now. As a great man once said, "with great power comes great responsibility."

Secondly, should anyone find another work of mine being plagiarized, please, please, please, let me know and do not act without informing me. I want no one's feelings to get hurt, but copying others is NOT OKAY.

The accused: user Christyna and the story In The Right Time.

FIRST EVIDENCE

At first, this was a scene I glossed over. In both stories, the MC is transported to a world based off the Lion King and end up awaken by the character, Ruggie, only to learn that they are the chieftain of the hyenas. The MC travels up a cliffside to meet the neighboring prince, Leona. Of course, I thought this was strangely familiar, but it didn't raise any alarm bells for me.

For reference, I used the first ten or so pages of my story Damnation [ The Hyena Chieftain ]. Which is the beginning portion of the story, until Leona first appears. I compared this the other story, In The Right Time, chapter one: a strange awakening.

However, seeing this similarity, I thought to myself it could've been a strange coincidence. Afterall, if it's based on the Lion King, it could happen. It is a popular franchise, but further evidence proved that it couldn't have just been the odd coincidence.

SECOND EVIDENCE

Here is where I will start to share screenshots, again, when I can since I might be limited by Tumblr. From here on out, all image comparisons will be highlighted in either red or blue. The red will be from In The Right Time, while the blue will be from my story.

In The Right Time, chapter two: intriguing negotiations. Paragraph two, reads the following which I will compare side by side with Damnation. This is a line of dialogue said by Leona in both stories:

THIRD EVIDENCE

FOURTH EVIDENCE

At this point, any thought of coincidence it dashed.

There are too many similarities from the word choice, to the roles, to the thought processes and actions of the MC, everything is far too suspiciously close to have been just a mistake.

Also, what may also be noteworthy, at the very end of this chapter, the accused user leaves a note. Implying that they wrote the story, which if we go by the evidence, seems harder and harder to believe. Here is the note:

FIFTH EVIDENCE

The following can be compared to Damnation: The Hyena Chieftain, roughly about the halfway mark when the MC wakes up as Ruggie alerts them of an intruder. This is a scene where Jack has a lot of time as well, but it's important to note that Jack isn't present in the other story.

This scene about the poisoned water is something that wasn't even in the movie, it was something that I created to fill out more pages for characters such as Jack and Ruggie. That, and along with the cans of food, is another detail that was never in the movie.

SIXTH EVIDENCE

This is a continuation of the last scene. I do think it's important to point out the inspiration I took to create this scene. This was a scene I had struggled with for a while, as I wanted to give Jack Howl some more pages of content.

Until one day, the idea came to me. I based this specific scene on a scene in The Mandalorian, chapter nine: the marshal. Don't believe me? See for yourself. The scene where Din Djarin captures a man outside a fight club. That's what inspired this scene for me. Not sure about the accused though.

After this point, the instances of copied scenes thins to only a few more sparse occurrences that I will present below.

For the moment, I do want to say that I acknowledge the differences, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they have copied numerous scenes thus far. An amount that total to a majority of the first half of Damnation: The Hyena Chieftain.

With that said, I leave another note left by the accuser at the end of chapter seven:

Ah, yes. I imagine copying the story is much easier than actually making your own. Believe me, it's difficult writing your own story. Not sure if you can relate though.

SEVENTH EVIDENCE

Believe it or not, the similarities do not stop at just the end of Damnation: The Hyena Chieftain. They also extend into Damnation: The King of Hearts.

Similarly to how my story Damnation: The King of Hearts starts, the MC wakes up on a bed in royal garbs, confused and disoriented as they recognize the surroundings immediately as that of the setting of Alice In Wonderland. And, like in my story, Riddle is the king that appears out of the blue and lays a heavy accusation.

EIGHTH EVIDENCE

Just like in my story, the plot proceeds to the MC joining Riddle with Trey and Cater in the throne room where a prisoner is presented. A prisoner that failed to capture the protagonist, which I named Ellis after Alice. Unsurprisingly, the other story also has a very similar scene with a prisoner being presented in the throne room and the mention of a protagonist named Ellis.

A name which, by the way, I picked randomly because it sounded a lot like Alice.

EXTRA

That is all the evidence I can present so far, as the story had not been updated. But before I end this point, I would like to show additional screenshots I took of comments I discovered on In The Right Time.

The reason I blocked out these names is because I did not know the users and I don't have their permission to show their usernames. But here you can clearly see the dates during which this brief conversation took place, far before I even knew of the existence of this story.

If you have fully read both this evidence post and interaction post, and you are wondering if there is a way to help, yes, there is.

However, I want to remind everyone that I do not want anyone to spam or send outright hate. That is not what I want nor will it be useful.

If you would like to help, then please report the story and comment discouragement. Especially comment on the story, as I feel that this would be the most efficient method. If you wish to reblog, you may. Again, I stress this, DO NOT send any hate or spam! I am entirely serious on this point. I will block any users I find that are clearly hating or spamming the user on my behalf.

All I want is this to end as quickly as possible, so I can just get back to writing in peace. Please, and thank you for your time.

Where can you find the story and user: Wattpad

The user: kristynaka1

The story: In The Right Time

#probably important #damnation twst au

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ivys-garden · 9 months ago

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Life Series Session Recap and Alliance Analysis

Pearl opens her episode clarifying she and Impulse did nothing wrong. Finally I don't have to write “get over double life, tumblr” every week.

Yes, another Saturday means another instalment of the Life Series. This session was far more chill and slow paced than last weeks, ironic considering that this week's Wild Card was a perpetual speed increase! Going from a complete time freeze to full hyperspeed. Naturally, this led to about a 7.5 on the madness scale, so let's see what those teams were up to.

The Final Girls - (Scott, Cleo, Pearl, Impulse & Bigb (not anymore ;3 ))

On the topic of Pearl and Impulse, Cleo decides that they will fully enable all of they're future actions. Yes, she might sigh when they talk about all the evil stuff they're going to do, but she's fully on board.

Right about now Scott is probably regretting being team mum for three chaos gremlins as he's already had to instruct them not to give Gem any more reasons to kill them & had to break up the fight that was issued once they all went Matrix mode.

Speaking of Gem & Joel, a new development in the great drama sees Impulse explain himself and apologise to Gem. She doesn't buy it but it's the thought that counts. During this apology Pearl, the attack dog, is ordered by Gem and Impulse to slaughter grian. So while Cleo and Scott go off to make friends, Impulse and Pearl pop over to Rens for some very serious murder discussion, with an eventual “let's murder Grian” party forming consisting of Pearl, Impulse, Ren, Martyn, Bigb, Scar & Jimmy. If even a fraction of these people stick to this next session Grian is pretty firmly doomed.

In other news Scott manages to make allies with the Bamboozelers through several means, including staring at Jimmy's ass. Cleo & Impulse have a little caving adventure and Impy manages to make a working Creeper farm that they may or may not be sharing with Renwood. This leaves Pearl once again building the tower, which is good since she has arguably to much experience in that

While building the tower we get more Drama! Grian and Mumbo managed to get a quick kill on Scott early on the session by digging a big pit under the tower and spleefing him in. Mumbo and Skizz later come back to this trap only to be discovered by Pearl. The Suits try to get her to lure Scott over, but Pearl is far to loyal for that…. But not loyal enough to kick them out, reasoning that it would be really funny if it happened twice. On top of this she negotiated the ability to kill grian without them stepping in, very useful given her current plans & the second spleefing doesn't work anyways, so no harm no foul.

No one would actually agree to luring their team to their Death intentionally… right Bigb?

I'd say I'm surprised, but I'm not. He's worked again every team he's been in except Nosey Neighbours. I guess the “B” must stand for “Betrayal”

Bigb pulls the same thing Pearl did only not under the pretence of a joke, when Grian is around to actually make sure his team gets the kill, actually agreeing to lure Scott and doing it INFRONT OF CLEO. This being the second time this has helped to them, Cleo immediately goes off to find Scott to warn him about the traitor…Scott still falls into the trap anyway but that was a skill issue on his part. Bigb actually tries later to gaslight Scott into thinking that he didn't mean to betray the team, which almost worked until he started saying Cleo was the traitor, which obviously Scott would never buy. Oh he also did this in earshot of Cleo so she set her attack dog (Pearl) on him.

Bigb also later betrays the “Let's Kill Grian Gang” and warns Grian about the plan to murderficate him. I guess someone hasn't gotten over Double Life after all.

The Fast And The Furious - (Joel & Gem)

Actually, the fast and the paranoid might be more accurate as while Joel is just off having a grand old time prattling speed bridging, Gem is terrified that everyone is out to get her and doesn't seem to understand that putting your base on the main path means more people will come visit.

Aside from sending everyone they can to kill Grian and disregarding Impulses genuine apology, the team due doesn't really do much themselves

Gem was officially the last person to lose a life though, with no less than 4 people, including 2 greens, having to help kill her.

Also Joel added racing stripes to the car and… it actually made it a lot less hideous, well done Joel.

The Bamboozelers - (Jimmy, Scar & Lizzie)

Jimmy has regained the title as most confident member of this team…scarily confident in fact, just this session he was able to steal a potential kill from Skizz & kill his teammates, get another good kill on Joel using Lizzie as bait, managing to turn his relationship with Joel around to become allies and reaffirming his alliance with Renwood. Honesty 100 IQ plays from Tim all around.

He did die once this session, but that wasn't his fault and was also incredibly funny to watch Martyn bimbo his way through traps made for Bigb and accidentally kill Timmy. Great job everyone.

Speaking of failed traps… oh Scar… he started of strong, absolutely annihilating Etho in slow motion and living up to the villain he shares a name with by tossing him off a cliff, but after that every single attempt to trap someone fails miserably and he's forced into a cheap kill on Grian that results in him calling for vengeance… wouldn't be to worried about that tho considering Skizz and Mumbo's track record.

The Spanners - (Mumbo, Skizz & Grian)

How are these idiots not dead yet.

They get one (1) successful kill this session, spleefin’ Scott. A trap Mumbo tries his luck with several times after this despite knowing the Final Girls already knew about it.

Skizz gets no kills despite Grians efforts. An attempt to build a super TNT minecart launcher is made… on Scars mountain… and Grian spends several.minutes explaining to his worst enemies how the trap works… and then he and Mumbo stand directly under where they know the TNT will land. Yeah obviously Jimmy sneaks in and pulls the lever to kill them.

A second attempt to launch TNT is made, but this launcher is pathetic and ends up being turned into a party game. oh, and then Grian gets hotguyed by Scar. Grian immediately screams vengeance and blows up the reputation board, ranting about how little it meant since he was in good favour… which only proved he never read the damn thing but it's the thought that counts.

In their last hoorah for this session the team goes on a proper hunt The Bamboozelers as they hide in Joel's car. Mumbo sneaks up to pure lava on them… and burns himself to death. He then tries to hypersonic pvp Gem and you can guess how that went. He then joins in trapping Gwm in a big hole and burning her, only for the kill to go to Ren anyway.

These guys are Doomed. Especially because Final Girls & The Family are allied with Scar & The fact that Renwood actively wants to murder them.

Predictions: Grian goes Yellow next session, Mumbo goes out-out and Skizz is somehow still Red.

Renwood - (Ren & Martyn)

We actually covered everything these guys did already, The Grian Murder Crew, Martyn being a trap bimbo, Ren allying with Impulse to make up for beheading him, really the only thing we haven't discussed is Martyns strange choice to make the first 5 minutes of his episode unlistenable

The Tuff Guys - (Etho, Tango & Bdubs

Etho finally admits they're the comic relief. Like any good comic relief, these three stooges spend the entire session failing at everything. Tango fails on the same trap 3 times. Bdubs almost kills himself in said trap. There's more fights and bickerings than you could count on 15 hands and a toe

Oh also Tango also perma-died to Pearl after going invis and being pumped full of arrows.

Honestly it's not a question of if someone dies next session, it's a question of who.

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blue-grama · 7 months ago

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Late-breaking take, the end of Spare Me Your Mercy was quite good! Spoilers ahead, of course. Somehow this show spurred a lot of Tumblr discourse, though not the Tumblr discourse I expected for a series about euthanasia, a famously ethically fraught issue. No prognostication points for me! Anyway, I mention this because it feels hard to write an opinion without referencing all that, but I'm trying, because I just want to react to what was onscreen, in my opinion alone. There were a lot of things this show did really well. First and foremost, covering the whole spectrum of responses to euthanasia, from Boss' ableist take to Kan's autonomy-forward attitude. I really loved that they went out of their way to show a good death without euthansia in the Buddhist monk. It was an important counterbalance and drove home the point about autonomy over all else. I ultimately even liked the weird, ambiguous relationship between Kan and Tew -- though I think it could have benefited from a little more emotional focus, just to raise the stakes. Tew was a very stoic, inward character, but there are ways to show a undemonstrative character's emotions subtly. E.g. I'm watching Train to Busan at the moment and Gong Yoo pulling off his tie with a litte too much force when his mom talks about his estranged wife just tells us everything we need to know in a span of a couple seconds. SMYM wasn't quite as deft and it sometimes came off as confusing. For a few episodes, I wasn't totally sure if we were supposed to infer that Kan and Tew were intimate offscreen or if they were just in a weird hazy 'talking' phase. It turned out to be the latter. I think their relationship should have been weird and hazy, I just think we could have gotten a little more clarity as the audience in the middle of the show. That said (and now I'm skating dangerously close to the Discourse), I thought it was really important there was queer romance in this show. It was powerful to have Kan, a gay man, talking about the heartlessness of the law and importance of bodily autonomy, especially in the context the show had set up - rural, traditional, obviously homophobic. It was interesting to have Tew, the closeted character returning to his rural hometown, sticking to the letter of the law, while Kan, who seemed to have grown up elsewhere and come to the town as a student or adult, felt the need to work outside the lines. Another thing that became clearer in the final episode was that Tew was not out to his mom, but that she knew why he'd left his hometown and that she wanted him to have that big-city, less constrained life. This set up death and queerness as Things We Don't Talk About, To Our Detriment -- imagine if the two of them had felt they could say these things to each other in life? The final image, of the hydrangea, representing forgiveness, but wilted and brown, was one that stood out. There's a window for understanding there - for the law to catch up with compassion - but it's not certain. I don't have a good wrap-up here, just wanted to share thoughts for others who might have liked the show. It was solid and sometimes truly moving, and I'd love to see more shows like it.

#spare me your mercy #spare me your mercy spoilers #tw euthanasia

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agentem · 6 months ago

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Emily watches "Captain America: Brave New World"

Just got back from the theater. I wrote some notes on an Alamo Drafthouse order slip.

My non-spoiler review is that it's fine. It's a bit disjointed which is obviously a result in the reshoots. But I am glad to see Sam get his own movie about his super power being a counselor. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of Isaiah Bradley because I was worried he'd be blink and you missed it. But his scenes hit me the hardest emotionally.

There is a surprise (as in, not revealed in the trailers) cameo from a certain white boy that might make tumblr very happy. The post credits scene is very lame. If I were you, I'd leave after the Kendrick Lamar song plays.

Spoiler cut

Alamo did a recap of "previously on Marvel" that covered TFATWS and Incredible Hulk. I think Marvel might need to start doing that themselves.

Isaiah's suuuuuit. I was very upset when they were roughing him up because he married Faith in that suit.

HE WAS UP FOR THE DEATH PENALTY?! HOW DARE THEY.

Xosha Roquemore plays Leila Taylor. In the comics she dates Sam. Here she appears to be a secret service agent or personal guard to the President? In the beginning Sam intimates that he knows someone close to Ross and I thought it was going to be revealed that it was her. Nope.

Okay, Sam should have called Bruce Banner the second he got out of that Gamma lab and asked for help. There is no excuse for this.

During the press tour Anthony Mackie kept talking about how cool the sky battle around Celestial Island was. He said he wanted to out Top Gun Top Gun. And... I didn't see Top Gun Maverick so I can't say. But I thought it was pretty boring and would've cut a lot of that sequence were I in charge. The most interesting part is Ross' emotional state there, and then Torres falling. I don't care about whether the Japanese battleship is okay or if the two pilots were med-evaced.

They had since 2008 to come up with a cool look for The Leader (Samuel Sterns) and he looks like garbage. It's bad. I feel bad for Tim Blake Nelson. He's such a great actor. This needs to be fixed if he comes back for the inevitable Hulk movie they are setting up.

I dont understand why anyone in this world would shoot at a Hulk. Leila did and I was like, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" You are supposed to be a professional. When has shooting at a Hulk ever worked?

Harrison Ford did good. Carl Lumbly did good. Danny Ramirez did good. Giancarlo did good. I'm hopeful this could set up some good stuff even if this particular project had some issues.

Is it weird that I still wish Harrison Ford were the real President even if he turns red and destroys stuff? At least it's just buildings. Not our government and institutions.

#mcu #marvel #captain america #captain america brave new world #captain america: brave new world #anthony mackie #harrison ford #isaiah bradley #sebastian stan #giancarlo esposito #xosha roquemore #sam wilson #the falcon #joaquin torres #red hulk #betty ross #thaddeus ross

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detailtilted · 5 months ago

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VANCON 2011 J2 Panel - Can anyone help with subtitling a Japanese fan? Also, has anyone seen a season 5 or 6 BTS photo of Jared with a "huge book"?

Hi! I'm working very hard on my next Enhanced Edition video, the VANCON 2011 Main J2 panel.

One of the fans is from Japan, and that's not an accent I've had much exposure to in my life so I'm not very confident that I'm hearing her correctly. I received a lot of help here on Tumblr when I had similar issues subtitling a Chinese fan last May, so I thought I'd seek help with this one too. There are undoubtedly people on Tumblr who will have the background and/or experience that I lack to understand her words with greater accuracy.

I also have a second and probably very obscure question about a photo, further below.

Question #1 This clip has the fan's full question. I have three [inaudible]'s, and I do have some guesses for each of them, but I'll put my guesses at the very bottom of this post (along with some context) so people can first try to listen with ears that haven't been biased by my own interpretation.

Full text: "Hi. I'm from Japan. We are very grateful to have many people around the world [inaudible]. Now Misha [inaudible] he does that. So please give us your message to your [inaudible] in Japan."

Question #2 A fan said: "I saw the picture of Jared last season on set with this huge book..."

I couldn't find the photo she was talking about, but I'd love to put it in the sidebar if by some miracle anyone knows where to find it. It would probably only show for a few seconds before I have to take it down to make room for something else, so I'd feel terrible if anyone spent more than a few minutes trying to hunt it down (please don't!!), but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask in case someone out there has an incredible memory and/or an incredible filing system and knows right where to find it.

For context, they've just started filming season 7 and the season 6 finale aired about 3 months ago. I originally assumed "last season" meant season 6, but she may have meant season 5. Another fan in Misha's panel the day before called season 6 "this season".

It's also possible he just had a prop book or something. She went on to ask about their favorite books and authors, so I took it to mean it was a personal book, but maybe it was a prop.

My Thoughts and More Context on Question #1 Repeating the text here for easier reference:

"Hi. I'm from Japan. We are very grateful to have many people around the world [inaudible]. Now Misha [inaudible] he does that. So please give us your message to your [inaudible] in Japan."

* The first [inaudible] is the one I'm having the most trouble with. It sounds kind of like "say this prayer unto Asians". But that doesn't make much sense to me, unless it's a cultural reference I don't understand.

* The second [inaudible] sounds very much to me like "is ridiculed but of course". But I'm worried about misrepresenting what she's saying.

* And the third [inaudible] I think is probably "fan" but might be "family". I believe English plurals are challenging when coming from some languages, so I thought this might just be a small grammar mistake.

Context: Japan suffered a devastating earthquake in March 2011. This convention was in August 2011, so Japan was still recovering. When the earthquake happened in March, Misha posted a tweet for Japan and he posted it in the Japanese language, so I think that's what she may be referring to.

I also just want to emphasize that at the time of the earthquake, neither Jared nor Jensen were on Twitter. Jared joined in June 2011 and Jensen didn't join until 2014.

Edited to add: there's a little more to the video that influenced how I'm interpreting the context, so I'm including a link to AgtSpooky's video on YouTube (posted with permission by somebody else) that starts at the same place my above video does, so you can listen a little further for more context:

youtube

#j2 #jared padalecki #jensen ackles #Japan #Japanese accent #enhanced edition con video development #DetailTilted is once again driving herself insane over minutiae #misha collins #Youtube

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wistfulnightingale · 8 months ago

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The Chess Moves Theory Set (New Ideas About the Final 15)

*An 8-Part set of Interconnected MetaTheories that support each other and might start to answer some interesting questions.

Did you have any nagging thoughts about things that didn't make sense from the last 2 episodes of Good Omens S2? Out-of-character moments, or odd changes in mood, or just little things someone said that stood out, but you weren't sure Why?

Me too.

For me, it was Especially because I became convinced that Aziraphale and Crowley committed to each other as loving partners on that bus ride home from the almost-Apocalypse, and that we were seeing An Old Married Couple as S2 opened. They were sweet, but stable, with set looks and comfortable touch and familiar quarrels, and now a sudden dramatic crisis had strolled up to their doorstep in all his naked glory...

So, for many months I was poring over YouTube videos, rewatching full episodes -- with headphones, or not, with captions, without sound, with sound but not watching the visuals.... Bonkers, right? But, as the Cheshire Cat said, "We're all mad here." And Alice later told the Hatter, "...I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are!"

I saw so many wonderful questions about S2 being asked by my fellow madly devoted Ineffables fans. It occurred to me that maybe we needed to ask all the questions at the same time, in order to come closer to the answers we were looking for, instead of looking at one question as the key. Similar to chess, where no singular move can win the match without the other moves and counter-moves.

I came up with 8 Mini-Theories I christened The Chess Moves Theory Set that all impact and support each other. Some may seem too wild or weird for the ineffable path you follow, some you might love, some may (I hope) turn out to be on the right track, and some may prove to be altogether wrong. But I did my best, and I do believe all of them are supported as theories by what I discovered and what I describe in each meta-theory analysis. I hope they are also consistent with the vision Terry Pratchett had for the final story. Even if I was mistaken, at least it gives us something fun to talk about until then!

Tumblr doesn't make it easy to prep and link 8 theory posts and a Master Post -- I tried (oh so hard!) to put cross-links in each one for you, and it just couldn't happen at posting time. Annnd, I'd also foolishly put my works-in-progress from "draft" into "private" 5 days ago! This makes it even tougher for you to get to them. So here's a nice shiny new post with all 8 Mini-Theories plus the Master Post that explains how Chess and Magic connect to all this:

The 8 Chess Moves Theory Set:

1 - The Metatron Misdirection

2 - The Metatron's Second Coming

3 - Ineffables in Check

4 - A Hefty Jigger of Death

5 - Nothing Lasts Forever

6 - The Circle Kiss Theory

7 - The Nightingale DID Sing

8 - Aziraphale's Jubilant Smile

Also: The Chess Moves Theory Set, Why Chess & Magic?

(If anyone has trouble with any links in any of the blogs, please let me know asap, and I'll try to fix it! I had some issues when I tried to cross-link everything!)

I also linked them in my pinned post on my blog page, "I Believe In Nightingales" at @wistfulnightingale.

I hope you enjoy them, if you decide to check them out! I'd love to have you along on this crazy ride until we get to the final chapter for our Beloved Ineffable Husbands!

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens theories #chess moves theory #good omens meta #ineffable husbands #the metatron #a nightingale sang in berkeley square #a hefty jigger of almond syrup #the final fifteen #final 15 #wistfulnightingale #terry pratchett #thank you rob and rhianna #to our world

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somethingblu3 · 1 year ago

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Birthday Song | Luke Davenport (Part 1)

Read on Ao3 Here.

18+ minors dni.

Masterlist

Fandom: Dream Team

Summary:

Luke needs his nightly eye drops especially on his birthday but he can't stand him. He knows there's only one way you could give him comfort.

TW: Eye drops, grumpy Luke davenport, hurt/comfort, birthday, fluffy, medicine, birthday fic, restrained, fussy Luke, established relationship, cuddling & snuggling, medicine, rejection, anxiety, angst and feels.

Pairing: Luke Davenport x Female Reader.

Word Count: 2,332 Words

Note:

Finally a late post to Tumblr! also gonna remind you guys of my fics for Gaza post. Part 2 will include smut.

"Luke. Hold Still," You order through gritted teeth. You towered over him as your hand gripped the white bottle of eye drops.

At least he was complying somewhat this time; he was still kicking and screaming, of course, but it wasn't as bad as the other night that night, which made you lose countless hours of sleep.

This was the closest you had ever gotten the medication to his eyes. Luke was bigger than you, of course, and meatier, too. He could easily force you into a chokehold if his arms were free, but they weren't. You had haphazardly tied them to the headboard with his sweatband. He had some wiggle room, but certainly not enough to break free, at least not as easily as you had hoped.

"Come on, Luke, stop being such a big baby. I know you hate it, but I don't know. Remember what will happen if you lose your sight for good?" You didn't want to taunt him, but you needed to shake him up a little—not striking the fear of God into him ultimately, but enough for him to want and need to take the medicine in the first place.

"I know, I know, Love...it's just my birthday", he sighs as he stops his wrists from fighting against the blue sweaty restraints. "I just thought I'd have a day off. That I could be 'normal' again, back to the way things were before my bloody sight-"

You sigh as you set the bottle on the bed and cup his cheek "Luke, Honey. You were born with this condition. Your father had it, too...it was inevitable. You can't change how it was written or meant to be."

Luke gives you a small nod in return. "I know...I just thought you'd let me off. It's my birthday. I'm not going to be this young and handsome forever," he tells you, which makes you shake your head and chuckle.

"Luke-"

"But I'm not! I'm already ageing. I've seen signs, Sweetheart. Don't tell me you haven't seen my grey while we've been showering and how slow I've been getting during practice. My back pain, my tiredness-"

"Luke", You cut him off. "You're not even in your 30s yet. Relax, love," you tell him as you move the stands of his hair out of his eyes like you always did. His hair had always been so untamed you didn't understand how he could see a single thing or even kick the ball with his hair in a way like that. Some days, you wanted to get out a pair of succours and cut it for him, but with his sensory issues, you knew that would be another tantrum in the making.

"It's only two drops, Sweetheart. It'll only take a couple of seconds. Your vision might be blurry, and your head might hurt," you remind him as you stroke his arm, but he jerks it away. But then you'll be back to normal. We can cuddle and watch some Match Of The Day if you'd like," you suggest in a smooth tone.

Luke sighs as he scrunches his brows. "But that's exactly the problem! The burning as well as the itching from the dryness of my headaches afterwards! you know how bad they are! it takes hours to recover. Love. I can't do this every night or for the rest of my life. You should be living your best life out there, not looking after me. I'm so hopeless I can't even bear to be in the same room as a flashing camera," he groans. You knew if he was free from his restraints, he would be covering his face with his hands weeping .

Poor Luke.

Ever since you'd met him before you started dating, he was a sensitive soul. Sometimes, he'd crack over nothing and lose his temper if what he wanted wasn't going his way. You had learned to deal with this over the years, even if it made the two of you part ways occasionally.

"Is there something? anything I can do to help you through this?" you ask.

You weren't willing to loosen the restraints—at least not now—but there had to be something—anything you could do to ease the pain of the drops.

Luke lets out a breath he didn't even know he was holding "Not unless you could somehow convince the Doctors not to give me this shit-" he grumbles.

"Luke, you know I can't do that. Even with all the money in the world-"

"I know" Luke nods as he sulks, slouching into the bed. "I was just saying, you know what? never mind-"

He's quiet for a while as he looks away from the distance.

"There is something you could do-" As he tells you this, your eyes fall to his plump, kissable lips. He was such a damn distraction. How did he look like that? So drop-dead gorgeous and handsome all the time? while you always looked like a mess? Although he'd tell you the opposite, sometimes, you couldn't help but wonder if Luke was just trying to be nice . What would a guy like him do? Luke Davenport want with a girl like you? You were so out of his league.

He purses his lips "Your voice-" he says "It soothes me"

You frown as you inch closer "Soothes you?"

He nods hesitantly, not wanting to offend. "Yes, I love hearing it. I don't know what it is, but it calms me down," he says sincerely. It's the first serious moment you've had with Luke for a while between all of the tantrums and hassle of trying to get him to take the damn medication.

"So what do you want me to do? Read you a story?" you suggest, which makes him shake his head and scoff in response.

"No, no, I'm not a child," he warns, and then he pauses. "But... could you sing me a song?" he asks as he brushes his legs against yours.

Cheeky.

"A song? Luke, I can't sing. I sound like Rebecca Black. I'm so whiney," You groan as you throw a pillow at him.

"Hey, hey! No, you're way better than her," he chuckles, shaking his head. "I've heard you in the shower, babe. You're gonna be like the next Kelly Clarkson," he swears as he tries to dodge the pillow.

You roll your eyes as you lean forward, staring into his deep sapphire eyes, forgetting about the small white bottle of eye drops almost entirely. "Kelly Clarkson, huh?" you taunt as you lick your lips.

"Yeah...her", he nods, but you know he's not paying any attention as he swallows hard.

"So what do you want me to sing?" you ask as you run a hand over his thigh.

Luke gasps, surprised by the unexpected electric touch. "Anything—anything," he begs. He's whining like a child. He always went into a childlike state when he begged for whatever it was he wanted, and all he wanted was to hear your voice to calm him as you forced the eye drops into him.

"How about a happy birthday? since it's my birthday after all?" he shrugs lightly, moving the restraints

You nod, considering it. "And you promise you'll take the drops?" you ask.

He flinches as you open the cap. His heart beats a steady rhythm in his eardrums, and you watch as his lips part. Even with the promise of a sweet song, almost a lullaby, he was still nervous about the side effects of the drops. He swore his eyes were dry already, but perhaps that was because of the fear of what was to come. He knew the first thing he would feel would be sitting almost instantly each time. It was even more uncomfortable than the last.

"I promise, " Luke nods. He watches you as you reach out your hand. At first, he wonders if you are going to free him, but he quickly doubts it as soon as you grab the full cup of water from the nightstand instead.

"I think you're the one who needs to freshen up your pipes, aren't you, love?" He asks with a small smile as you force the drink down his throat. After he's finished, he licks his lips and takes a moment to close his eyes and blink like it's his last time.

"Alright, love", he nods determinedly.

He couldn't believe that this was something he had to do now for the rest of your life. Or, as you said, it was written in the stars.

He was sick, and he needed medicine, especially if he wanted to get better and keep his number 11 position on the team.

Luke had to do this for him, for you. Surely, he could face a couple of eye drops, especially if he always got tackled every night on the pitch. Couldn't he?

Luke took a finally shaky breath, but there were no eye drops to follow. Instead, you leaned closer. You reached forward, cupping his cheek, and you began to sing slowly. He didn't know why, but he didn't expect you to actually do it—to follow through to sing the song.

Were you doing it just because it was his birthday?

or because you generally loved him?

Either way, Luke was blown away by how much you cared about him. He wasn't Luke Davenport, the famous football player in your eyes.

He was just Luke.

Lucas.

That was all he was to you. Just a simple boy with a heart too big for his chest that grew to size every time he saw you. The boy, that was messy and complicated, needed help every now and then, even if it was just for some damn eye drops. He needed someone in his life to have and to hold.

And then, sitting there in the bed, Luke realised something: that person was you.

"Happy birthday to you—" Your lips brushed against his skin ever so delicately. He could have reached out and touched, brushed his plump ones against your own. Instead, he didn't. With much restraint, he held himself back from locking his with yours and from battling your tongue with his overdominance.

It felt like the slowest moment in existence as you removed the bottle cap, but your patience, at least on the surface, was unwavering. With your free hand, you traced his face delicately, making delicate little circles that made him melt. It was so tempting to draw his eyes close, but he didn't. He kept them sharp and open just for you, just for his love.

"Happy birthday, dear Lucas-" And just like that, as you uttered his name's final 'S', you delicately dropped the medicine in just as much as you could, even with him flinching.

"Happy birthday to you...."

He thought he ruined it. He thought he'd blinked his eyes and then made a mess of it all, but instead, you patted him on his shoulder, which was still tied up by the restraints, and you gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"All done. Good job," you tell Luke.

Luke smiles. That was it?

He knew the side effects would kick in soon, especially the dizziness, once you were both finished. He watched as you put the drops away while he blinked like crazy, and then you finally freed him. His wrists ached as he flung the sweatbands across the room, and you instantly hugged him.

"I need to hear your voice again, love. I need to hear more," he tells you in a sleepy, drowsy state as he lies on your lap.

You instantly reach for the remote and begin flicking through to find the sports channel, but they all make Luke's head pound as you flicker behind the channels—the changing description every two seconds, the small text, and the flashing images. His head was hot like it was seconds away from exploding.

"My voice is nothing special," you say as you comb through his hair with your angelic touch.

"Nonsense", Luke tells you firmly. He would look at you into your eyes at that moment if it wasn't for the headache about to set in, and if anything, the TV screen was making it worse. He knew from the medication that he couldn't close his eyes entirely, so instead of heading in your lap, he just focused on the ground.

"I need to hear your voice, sweetheart," he calls out like a prayer, a desperate plea.

you sigh as you give in. "Do you really want me to sing Happy Birthday again?" you ask with a frown.

"Yes," he nods instantly.

You sigh as you relax your shoulders. "Alright then," you tell him, and then an instant smirk appears across his lips.

"It is my birthday, after all, and I can have anything I want", he teases.

"And what you want is to hear me sing happy birthday over and over again? Have you lost your mind?" you tease, making him stifle a laugh.

"Yes- there's nothing wrong with your voice love you'd make it I'm serious"

"Yeah, maybe with your money", you tease him, having heard all the rumours.

"Oh, don't listen to them, love," he says, knowing he's read the same articles as you. "They have no idea who we are or what we're capable of," he tells you as he interlocks his fingers with yours and kisses your knuckles.

"So...you want me to sing Happy Birthday again? Is that really your birthday wish?" you ask, hoping it won't be.

"Do I only get one gift on this special day?" he teases as you nod.

"Yes, of course, you spoiled boy. Didn't your mother get you brand new Calvin Klein?" You ask him, and he nods defeatedly

"Yes, she did, and I'm grateful I never ask for any of that stuff..." he sighs.

"I know love...well. Should I start now?"

"Preferably" he smiles softly.

#neil newbon #nobigneil #luke davenport #luke davenport x reader #fluff #dream team #dream team luke #dream team luke davenport #luke davenport x female reader #luke davenport fluff #fanfiction #dream team fanfiction

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exols-silver-christmas · 1 year ago

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EXOL SECRET SANTA 2024

How To Participate

Welcome to this year's Secret Santa!

I hope this year so far has seen everyone safe happy and healthy. With only a few months left in the year the time has rolled around again for our fandom gift exchange! Once again sign ups will start in August to allow time for gifts to be created. For more information on the timeline and important dates please refer to this post HERE.

There are a few guidelines and reminders I'd appreciate if you read before clicking the link to the sign up page.

All skill levels are welcome! All we ask is you try your best when creating your gift and that giftees remember that not all Santas will have the same skill level. Everyone has to start somewhere and it's truly the thought that counts!

Please check the important dates post and keep in mind that the check ins are not meant to pressure anybody but to ensure that every participant receives a gift of some sort. During the final check in however you will be asked for a screenshot of the post draft. If you are unable to provide one then it will be assumed that your gift is not finished and a back up Santa will be arranged for your giftee.

If you have not completed your gift by the designated date you are more than welcome to still post it once it's finished, we will still reblog gift posts after the exchange weekend.

Remember, the festivities are about sharing and fostering new (or old as the case may be) friendships. Take the time to spread some holiday cheer and get to know your giftee. You might make a new friend in the fandom!

Now for the pesky stuff:

Due to issues that arose in previous years, following this blog is required for participation. You must have a tumblr blog in order to participate. You will be asked during the sign in process to open a DM conversation with this blog. This is so you can be contacted for check ins and posting co-ordination.

Santas it is highly encouraged, though not required, to message your giftee throughout the next few months, both as a way to get to know your fellow exol and as a way to learn what they might like for a gift. On the off chance you need help with ideas, part of the form will include a prompt, but we do ask you make an effort first. The dates for requesting your giftees prompt will be posted on the important dates.

Anon function MUST be turned on as well as Asks, to allow the Secret Santa to remain Secret.

Gift Posts must be in your drafts and ready to post by the deadline. This is to allow our back-up Santas time to make a gift if needed. Inability to provide a screenshot will be taken as the gift isn't completed and a backup Santa will be contacted. As stated above you will be more than welcome to post on the gift exchange weekend or later if you wish to, we just want to avoid giftees getting that niggling little disappointment when others receive a gift and they didn't.

We also require that you use the organizational tag #exolss24 within the first 5 tags.

Read the Important Dates post

All gifts MUST be NEW CONTENT and meet the minimum requirements.

We ask that all gifts meant for minors be kept SFW. You will be informed your giftees stated age at the time of receiving your giftee blog name.

Minimum requirements for gifts are as follows:

Edits: 4+ small png or 2+ large png

Fanart: 1+

Fanfiction of anysort: 1k+ words

Fanvideo: 35 seconds+

Gif sets: 4+ gifs

Headers/lcons/Lockscreens: 4+ in any combination

Moodboards: 3 boards

You are of course more than welcome to go above and beyond the minimum requirements but that is solely dependent on your personal inclination and time availability. This is meant to be fun and a way to interact with each other and not a burden.

Finished with all that boring reading? Why not take a moment and reblog this so your followers have the chance to sign up as well!

#exo #baekhyun #minseok #chanyeol #jongdae #junmyeon #yixing #kyungsoo #sehun #jongin

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horseprison · 1 year ago

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nope, nevermind. false alarm.

been researching my dashboard problems further. things are displaying correctly on mobile, and on my old account on desktop. i believe the issue is the "following" tab on desktop ಠ_ಠ

#for a second i thought the issue might be that i'd set tumblr to a different language #and when i switched back to english it looked like the problem was solved for about 5 seconds #then it broke again

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sleepberries · 2 months ago

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hey! love your dcu x marvel writing and was wondering if you had any opinions, burning takes on the writing of the DCU, or just things you want to emphasize when writing those characters? Even just comparing the MCU and DCU's comics, movies, and tvshows- just curious of your thoughts! I saw a tumblr post yesterday: "[Bruce talking to Damian] Dick? A clearer version of what Batman was meant to be. Jason is willing to do what Batman can't, when the world needs it. Tim has a strategic sense I envy. I've never seen him move too early. Sometimes you do. But that might save you someday. I want you to decide for yourselves what you do--who you become. My job isn't to train you to make the same decisions I'd make. My job is to catch you, until you decide for yourself." and it just really got me reflecting on what batman's character is supposed to be about when it comes to his sons and wards, yknow? anyways what do you think, and have a spectacular day🌼🌸 !!!

first off, thank you !! i hope you have a good day too ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

second, i want to emphasize that i have not been reading dc comics for very long at all. (nine months give or take?) really my only 'opinion' on dcu writing is that brombal 100% knew what he was doing in batgirl (he's glaad nominated) and i want canon sapphic cass soon

given i haven't read a ton of comics, it really makes my day whenever people comment that i nailed my characterizations ദ്ദി(ᵔᗜᵔ) i do a lot of research before writing pretty much anything

i'll leave a breakdown under the cut of things i like the emphasize when writing dcu characters:

bruce: big thing is that for all his preparation, bruce is awkward. honestly if i were to faithfully adapt the bruce i've read, it's not really fair to call him a good parent. he's got complicated relationships with everyone in his circle for different reasons. when writing him i like to imagine a bruce who is trying, and maybe it's not working out. he has ideas of what the people around him need, but doesn't know what they want.

dick: i see dick as a really intense(?) character. he's got a lot of things going on and he feels like he ought to show up to all of them, and he's pretty high-strung as a result. i see people joke about how dick has eldest daughter syndrome and tbh i don't see it. he's got plenty of issues, but i wouldn't label any of them that. he leans on light-heartedness a lot when he's around family (which really is all he contexts i've written him in so far) and i want to explore more of him in a different setting sometime.

babs: again, i haven't posted a lot of babs, but she takes up a lot of my brain. one thing i hate to see (and try to avoid) is the treatment of babs where she's the 'man in the chair' for the bats. babs is her own, has her own team, and helps out the bats because she cares. she has a lot of issues with bruce when it comes to how he makes decisions, which i feel like we get to kind of see with how she operates with the birds of prey. (also another dcu writing opinion here. i hate how they just wave away her disability??? like wtf)

cass: i adore cass. i want to write more of cass, and more specifically cass-centric works. for cass, the biggest things i like to emphasize is that she's lowkey a troll but also that she deals with so much shit. she doesn't have perfect relationships within the bats, but when we talk about who will be batman i 100% believe it should be cass. it's kind of with that frame of mind that i go into writing her, which i totally want to explore more.

jason: biggest thing for jason is that even for everything he works through and goes through, his relationships within the bats are testy in general. its a big emphasis for me that while i sometimes lean into fanon big family situations, the bats best operate in smaller groups and individual one-on-ones. jason's relationship with bruce is especially interesting to write because i don't want to just wave away a lot of the shit modern bruce has done but its all just so heinous its impossible to not acknowledge that their relationship isn't great. eugh i just have a tonne of thoughts here

tim: biggest thing for tim is that he's just like that. a lot of his perceived weirdness translates into me writing him nuerodivergent a lot of the time, but tim signed up for this!! i'm not a fan of writing abusive jack/janet, but it's fun to explore how being a latchkey kid affects tim. i like to emphasize his thought process when writing, mainly becuase he was constantly narrating every time i read his comics and it's just fun.

steph: honestly i need to explore steph more but one thing that i hate in fics is when steph is relegated to tims past love interest. one of the first things i read every was stephs first run as robin. she's so important to me and i'm actually working out a steph/peter fic that is more about her affirming her boundaries than anything else. she's such an interesting character and my heart breaks for her :(( (for everyone, really)

duke: duke is also one of the most criminal fanon interpretations ive read and mainly it comes from wfa i think . duke is a bamf and it's not quite explored :(( i havent written him a ton but what i have so far i wanted to emphasize that hes lowkey a troll and just as much as a stalker as the rest of the waynes

damian: my big thing for damian is that he is a little brother. i love my little siblings but every context i published damian in thus far has been him being a sibling . its important to note that even if within the bats/waynes they dont all view each other as siblings or as close family, damian is eveyone's little brother . another thing i like with writing damian is kind of exploring his approaches to everything . ive realized i kind of accidentally made him neurodivergent on occasion but i think its because his direct approach and thought processes appeal to that characterization !!

#asks #i forgot about this for a very long time

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fruitycasket · 6 months ago

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Moira Saw The Truth (3 of 7)

Enter the Wacky Old Man. Will he be of any help, or will he irritate Moira for nothing?

Word Count: 3,374

Notes: Obligatory links to the previous chapter, next chapter, and Ao3. Obligatory tag for @the-pastel-kitsune. It's a shame these aren't popping up in the tags... Damn you Tumblr. Anyway.

This was the first chapter I wrote and finished, and I can't lie, I was a little sick of looking at it and sped through the editing process.

“I made a workshop! Check this out!”

Moira didn’t know how she found him.

If asked, she would have said intuition, but it was really extreme luck. There had been a split second where she thought a cat had wandered past the corner of her eye, but it was only a translucent plastic bag, which blew across the street and led her gaze to Ramesses.

What was he doing out so late at night, wandering the streets like he had nowhere to be and nothing to do?

Moira narrowed her eyes as she approached him. She still didn’t completely trust this old man despite his tick-like insistence on clinging to her life, and yet she was seeking him out.

Why? Because she’d had some frightening dreams this past week?

What was wrong with her?

Moira came tantalizingly close to turning around and going home, but something told her to press on. She pulled up beside him and rolled down her window. “Ramesses!”

Ramesses flinched and spun around. “Wha? Oh! Mada—er, Moira. You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”

“I need your help.”

“Not even going to say ‘good evening’ first, eh?”

“Now isn’t the time,” Moira snapped, “Are you going to help me or not?”

Ramesses was taking this whole interaction strangely well, all things considered. An apology was on the tip of Moira’s tongue, but Ramesses raised an eyebrow and spoke before her, “What’s the issue, then?”

“It’s Marvin.”

“Oh.” He frowned. “Ah. I might know what this is about.”

“Of course you do,” Moira sighed, “Just… get in the car.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Ramesses slid inside when he heard Moira unlock the doors, then immediately set about cranking the heat as high as it would go.

Moira tolerated it.

“You said you might know what this is about, yeah?” she asked, setting off for home, “What do you know?”

“Marvin got into a fight with another student and it went badly.”

“Was that how your friends told it to you?”

“More or less.”

Moira didn't respond for a while. Her knuckles somehow got even whiter as she throttled her steering wheel. “Well. That's one way of putting it.”

Ramesses proceeded carefully. “There was a rumor going around”—

“I'm aware.”

“Yes. Well, I wasn’t sure if I should make myself known given the circumstances. You must be rather high strung after all of this and I know we aren’t exactly friends.”

Moira looked askance at him. “You honestly thought I'd—what, kick you out? Attack you?”

“Are you surprised?”

“Hmph.”

They slipped into a brief, uncomfortable silence before Ramesses spoke again, “Was I your first choice?”

“My only one, more like.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes, really. What else was I going to do? Call in someone from work? That would've cheered Marvin right up, I'm sure, a visit from some lawyer he doesn't know.”

“Right.” Ramesses paused. “Has he been to a doctor? For the… injuries.”

“Him and that boy,” she spat, “I don’t know about the one who started the fight, but Marvin had to be in surgery for hours.”

“It was that bad?”

Moira wasn’t sure how to respond, so she didn’t.

“No need to go into detail, then. You still haven’t told me exactly what the problem is.”

“Yes. Right. Just before I went to find you, Marvin, he… I found… He has this collection of dead animals in my shed, and he’s covered all his studies in pictures of—this is going to sound stupid—in drawings of cats.”

Ramesses paused, his mouth hanging open for a second before he snapped it shut and leaned towards her a little. “Have you told anyone else?”

“About the shed? No. But I’ve called a doctor about the ‘sleepwalking’, and I’m waiting for an answer. For now, I have him keep a bell around his ankle so I can hear if he tries to get out.”

“Wise choices.”

“It's not even sleepwalking,” Moira sighed, “He was awake. The whole time. I don’t know what to think anymore, if he was acting, if there’s something else going on… I just know it has something to do with that shed.”

“I assume that’s what you want to show me?”

“Yes.”

She pulled into the driveway and stepped out into the dark with Ramesses, looking into her windows for signs that Marvin had left his room.

All was still. She hoped this meant he was hiding, and not disappeared.

“Let me get a torch,” she said, “Wait out here.”

Ramesses waited dutifully by the front door. When Moira returned with a light, she led Ramesses into the backyard and to the shed, which now loomed ominously before her. A dull fear worked its way into her heart with every step.

It was one thing to glimpse what was in the shed on her own. It was another to show someone else. She had no idea how he’d react to it.

But it was too late. They were already standing in front of it and Ramesses was staring expectantly at her.

“Here it is,” she said, “Look.”

Moira opened the shed doors.

This time, she truly looked at her son’s handiwork.

Immediately, Ramesses understood why she’d sought him out.

Where there had been notes relevant to magic study, pencil and ink drawings covered them and then some, turning the back wall into a mural of cats and thick, harshly scribbled runes Ramesses didn’t know the meaning of.

Every cat was white. Some of them looked normal and others were misshapen, with elongate necks, too many legs, split tails, and numerous other deformities. Larger sketches were not contained to one page. They pounced, padded, and stretched out from one canvas to another.

What’s more, this was a collection accrued over years.

Some of the art had clearly been done by a young child. The lines were rough, with incorrect anatomy and little to no shading or texture. The strange symbols (when they were drawn in graphite) had become smeared and blurry with age, and the paper used was old, crinkled, and stained. Mixed in among these were pristine papers decorated in art done by a practiced hand. There was detail, shading and texture on the fur, highlights in the dark, pupil-less eyes, and the lines were smoothly constructed.

If this weren’t Marvin, Ramesses would have assumed this was a weird but otherwise earnest little art collage, a tribute to years of artistic growth.

But something about this felt different.

As he looked at the drawings, they looked back in turn, as if Marvin drawing them into existence offered them a sliver of life or sentience—or created a window for something to peer through.

Tearing his eyes from that, he looked down to the table below the sprawling effigy.

Dead animals were packed onto the table.

They were little things, nothing that’d be sorely missed. Pigeons, songbirds, rodents, an insect here or there. To garnish the whole grim dinnerplate, there were neatly organized piles of eggshell and picked-clean bones alongside them. None of them looked like they’d been killed by a person. Not with a knife, or club, or bare hands, at least. They could have been scavenged off the ground by an enterprising vulture, but there was one thing uniting all of them that put the idea on shaky ground.

They all had extra limbs, sometimes extra heads.

Was this truly a common enough occurrence for Marvin to be able to find so many?

Were these animals found, or were they made?

Ramesses looked at Moira to confirm what he was seeing.

Moira looked at the table and wall like she was only really seeing it up close for the first time. “I know,” she said, “Do you know why? If you’ve got any idea at all, I’d love to hear it.”

Ramesses didn’t know where to start.

Moira closed up the shed and led Ramesses back inside. Ramesses sat at her dining table, his brows furrowed, while Moira headed into the kitchen to make herself some tea. “I don’t know what to make of it,” she said, “I don’t think—I hope he hasn’t been hurting any animals, but of course I’d say that, right? I’m his mum.”

“How long has he been drawing those pictures?”

“Marvin’s drawn those for ages now, I think since he was about ten? The only issue I ever had before now was when his school sent me a letter saying it was ‘unprofessional’ for him to be drawing all over his work. I just got him some sketchbooks and told him to use those instead, saved us both the trouble.”

Ramesses was quiet for a long while. He stroked his beard as he tried to think of something to say, and Moira became increasingly fidgety at his silence. It was almost startling when he spoke.

“Moira, do you remember what I told you when we first met?”

She recalled wanting to bite his head off first and foremost before the actual words exchanged hazily drifted into memory. “What? About forces beyond our knowledge? Honestly Ramesses, I thought you were just being a crazy old man, I didn’t…” she hesitated, “You think that white cat in his pictures is real? An actual creature that’s controlling my son?” It sounded stupid. As the words left her mouth she couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh alongside them.

“It’s not really a cat, that’s just what he thinks it is, or perhaps how the entity presents itself. And given that, those animals make a kind of sense. Cats like to kill things, don’t they? Sometimes they even bring dead animals to their owners. He may just be attempting to communicate with whatever this ‘cat’ is the only way he can think of.” He said it so calmly, like it was a normal thing that just happened sometimes.

Moira’s skin became icy to the touch as what Ramesses said sank in.

The back of the shed was a shrine laden with offerings.

“So he brings dead animals to whatever this hypothetical monster is?” she asked.

“I fear it’s not hypothetical at all,” Ramesses stared out of the window at the shed, “Moira, I have to be honest with you, I don’t know what to make of this. If you wanted me to tell you how worried you should be, I’m afraid I can’t.”

“You could try talking to him about it,” Moira offered, “I don’t know how far you’ll get. It didn’t work for me, but maybe if it’s you he’ll answer.”

“You tried already?”

“Just before I went to find you. He teleported away.”

“Hm. I suppose I can give it a try, then,” Ramesses stood and started for the stairs.

“Wait, right now? You’re sure?”

“There’s no time like the present.”

Moira followed him as he marched, wondering if Marvin had fallen asleep yet.

Ramesses barged in without knocking, throwing open Marvin’s door to find him lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. If he’d been about to fall asleep before, the old man snapped him wide awake. “What the hell.”

“Your mum tells me you've been sneaking out at night, young man,” Ramesses said.

“What?!” Marvin looked mortified, then embarrassed, then angry. Rigid with fury, he hissed at Moira, “You brought him here?”

Moira snorted. “Don’t take that tone with me, I couldn't think of anything else to do!”

He threw himself out of bed and stormed over to his door to shut it on Ramesses's face, but Ramesses stuck his foot in the doorway. “Marvin, that’s enough.”

“I'm not a baby and Ramesses isn't my dad, I don't need him here.”

“You don't want me here,” Ramesses countered, “But this is serious business, you don't get to hide from what you've done like a child!”

That made Marvin hesitate long enough for Moira to force his door open again. She glared at him, but her tone was softer than her stare. “Talk to him at least, Marvin.”

She could see the wheels in his head turning, trying to find any way out of this. Fortunately, he didn’t disappear again. He relented and stepped back into his room. Looking down at the floor, he muttered, “Can it be private?”

Ramesses opened his mouth to question what he meant but Moira already knew.

“You don't want me to listen,” she said.

“I—It’s not anything against you I promise, I just, um…”

Moira wasn't going to stand there and pretend like she wasn't hurt. It was probably written all over her face. But no matter how ridiculous it seemed that her son wouldn't talk to her about something this serious, she would take hearing whatever it was filtered through a wall and Ramesses's words over knowing nothing at all.

“Fine. I'll be waiting outside.”

She didn't hear much of what they said, only bits and pieces.

“The White Cat… the Cat… the Cat…” was all she heard from either of them, and then their voices would drop into a dull, soft rumble no amount of straining could turn into English.

The wait felt like eternity, though it couldn’t have been more than five or ten minutes.

When it was all over, Ramesses returned from Marvin’s room with tear stains on his shirt, and carefully closed the door behind himself. “We should talk.”

“You think?” Moira hissed.

“Downstairs. Come.” He meandered away as if he had no care in the world and took a seat at her kitchen table.

Moira followed, arms crossed tight over her chest as she listened for any indication Marvin was following them. Not that she needed to. He’d be at the top of the stairs eavesdropping on them soon enough, guaranteed.

“I want to know what he said, I don’t have time for you being yourself tonight Ramesses.”

“Don’t you start with that, I’m taking this more seriously than I have anything else in my life. I’m just trying to find words that won’t scare you.”

“I appreciate the effort, but don’t you think I should be scared?”

Ramesses looked away. “We don’t know that yet. And I… may have promised him I wouldn’t tell you certain things, Moira.”

“So?”

“I can’t break those promises. At least, not lightly.”

Moira laughed. “I deserve to know what’s going on with my own child, don’t you think?”

“I know, I know. Just bear with me, madam, there’s a method to my madness,” Ramesses stood up in response to Moira’s sharpening tone, “Your son is scared. He’s scared because he’s upset you, and he doesn’t understand why. He’s only trying to protect you.”

“That’s not his job”—Moira stopped to take a breath before she started shouting. “How can he not understand? What is he not getting?”

“I think that shrine and everything he did to make it was an elaborate compulsion. He knew what he was doing, but he didn’t perceive it the way we would. You must understand, people who live under the influence of incomprehensible beings do tend to become a little…”

“Eccentric?” Moira raised an eyebrow.

Ramesses smiled. “Precisely.”

Moira put her head in her hands. What the hell, she thought, I may as well go along with his insanity. I’ve got no other ideas. “What are you ‘allowed’ to tell me, then?”

“He would like if you didn’t take the whole shrine down.”

“You’re taking the piss.”

“Just a few animals and a few pictures, that’s all he wants. It’d mean a lot to him… and the Cat, probably.”

Oh, right. The Cat was a creature that existed somewhere in meatspace, something that could theoretically appear at her house at any point. “Could it get mad? Vengeful?”

“Eh. I figure such emotions are above beings like that, but it never hurts to be courteous.”

Moira could not believe this lunatic had just talked her into allowing the shrine to stay. “Fine,” she said, “He can pick his favorites but everything else is going in the bin.”

“See, now we’re making a bit of progress!”

“I’m getting rid of the rest of it the moment”—

A faint tink interrupted her.

Someone had forgotten he still had a bell on his leg.

Both Moira and Ramesses glanced towards the stairwell.

“Marvin,” Moira asked, “Are you up there?”

After a beat of silence, Marvin jingled miserably down the first few steps. The still-bruised parts of his body seemed to disappear in the shadows. “I, uh…” he studied Moira’s face as he sat himself onto the most convenient stair, “I wasn’t, I didn’t think…”

Moira knew this stammer well. It happened when Marvin knew he was in the wrong but was too proud to come out and apologize. “I’m not mad at you.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Well, I’m not scared of you, either.”

Marvin didn’t quite meet her eye. “Yeah.”

“We have to go clear out that shed now.”

“…Yeah.”

Ramesses clapped his hands. “No time like the present!” he marched over to Marvin and dragged him to the backyard as he protested, “You get one of each animal and ten pictures, no more!”

Moira huffed. “Wh—Hey, do I not get a say in this?”

Marvin parroted her tone, “Yeah, it’s my stuff, I should get a say, too!”

Ramesses looked unimpressed at the both of them. “It’s already been decided, I’m afraid. Because you”—he shook Marvin’s arm—“will want to keep too much, and your mum will want to keep too little.”

Huh. He was probably right, Moira supposed. Then, realizing she had just spent this whole night agreeing to Ramesses’s insanity, she worried this meant he was rubbing off on her.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, “Let us put some shoes on, at least.”

About twenty minutes of arguing later, Marvin had whittled his massive collection of death down to one songbird, one mouse, and a pile of speckled blue eggshells that even Moira had to agree were pleasing to the eye. The bird and mouse had long since decomposed into piles of bones, their rot hidden in equal parts by magic and regular cleaning. The egg was yolk-less and in fragments. It was the most agreeable arrangement Moira could haggle both Marvin and Ramesses for.

The drawings were another, less controversial matter. Moira and Ramesses needed only to sit back and let him pick the handful of pictures he was particularly fond of.

They left Marvin to sort the miniaturized shrine to his liking while Moira and Ramesses took the rest of the animals and pictures away, throwing out the dead mutants and stuffing the drawings deep in an out of the way cabinet.

As they returned to the backyard, Ramesses put a hand on Moira’s shoulder, beckoning her to stop.

“While we’re away from him, Moira, I feel I should tell you something.”

“What?”

Ramesses’s eyes darkened. “There’s something he isn’t telling us,” he whispered.

“What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know, I suppose whatever it was, he didn’t trust me not to get scared, or tell you, or an authority—or all three.” He started to say something else, then hesitated.

“You may as well spit it out.”

“Would it be overstepping if I asked to stay the night? Or two?”

Moira narrowed her eyes at him, “Why?”

“Well, you seem to a bit out of your depth. Not that I’m an expert on this, of course. What mean is, you need help. This is a lot to deal with on your own. The trances, for one thing, I think you could use an extra set of eyes to make sure he doesn’t wander off again.”

Moira considered it. “That’s a fair point.”

“And if I can see what you’ve been seeing, I can tell you for certain whether or not this is something you can or should try to deal with quietly.”

“That is also a fair point.”

A flash of movement in the backyard caught Moira’s eye. Marvin had finished up in the shed and was in the middle of closing it up.

Moira opened the back door for him as he made his way inside, “I’ve got some news for you, Marvin. Ramesses is”—

Ramesses beat her to the punch. “We’re housemates now!”

#altrverse #marvin the magnificent #moira vs #ramesses vs #animal death #horror #yes that is an olive branch #fanfic #very subtle imagery for this chapter as you can see #(one of those olives is weirdly rectangular and it bothers me)#around here is where things get a little wonky as far as keeping in line with CTAL goes #Moira's really going through it now. RIP #carleton told a lie #moira saw the truth

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unitedbydevils · 1 year ago

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Match Review: Manchester United Women 0-6 Chelsea Women

Livid would be an understatement.

Like the final at Wembley, I went to this game. I was excited to be at Old Trafford.

Unlike the final at Wembley, we didn't show up. It was tepid at best and offensive at worst.

United were outclassed to the point that Chelsea took their boot off our neck. They stopped trying as hard in the second half and STILL scored two. 6-0 was a modest result. It was a shameful defeat and it could and should have been a lot worse.

We can point to invidual errors and failings; Mary Earps needs to learn to claim a cross, Millie Turner and Hannah Blundell were repeatedly bullied off the ball, Katie Zelem was too slow and Lisa Naalsund too ponderous on the ball. But that's the game - very rarely does everyone play well all the time.

There is one individual at fault beyond all else though: Mark Skinner. The man handed a contract extension after the FA Cup win. What a mistake that might prove to be eh...

United played a high line at home versus CHELSEA. There's a reason Chelsea and City are the top two in the league and clear of the rest of us; they're faster, stronger, and more technically able. They are better footballers. It's okay to say it. It's also fair to say that United HAVE GOOD PLAYERS. We're not a crap team by any means, but we have strengths and weaknesses and a mediocre blogger like myself on Tumblr can see that against a faster team, you don't push up unless you're supremely confident in your possession game. We're good, but not that good. So, instead, you low block the fuck out of them and play to the counter. You can even hit them with through-ball passing pattern transitions rather than long balls over the top if you're worried about looking cheap, christ on a bike.

You and I can blame our players for mistakes, and we should (in a fair manner - lets not be toxic now) but you can't be mad at Hannah or Millie for getting outpaced by Mayra Ramírez and Catarina Macario. You just can't. It's obvious on paper way before the match.

Hayley Ladd was instrumental at CDM in our clutch win against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final. If we lose that, Chelsea definitely beat Spurs and that's another trophy for Emma Hayes. Yay. It begs the question though - why did she not start? It's the end of the season and she's been used sparingly, especially in comparison to Katie Zelem. I like Zels and she's a good set piece specialist too, but her and Lisa in that central pairing was as much use as me and my dad would have been out there. Completely ineffective.

In contrast, I thought we looked a lot better with Hinata Miyazawa on. We also had Irene Guerrero on the bench unused. What? We could have started Hinata, Irene, Hayley for fresh legs and a good balance in midfield and then sub on Tooney late on for a bit of a madness. Similarly for Rach Williams; she was good and is super reliable, but why was she on and asked to press high and hard? Wtf?

We should have sat deep and ran at Chelsea. Lucia, Melvine, Nikita, Geyse... pick three of that four and go nuts. But no, Mark Skinner has to stick with the same old same old, and that's why United got the same old same old result against Chelsea: defeat. Only this wasn't a defeat. It was a mauling. A humbling.

I'll save the drama with Grace Clinton and other former players for another post, but there's plenty of issue with Skinner from players let alone fans, which is also indicative of a problem in womens football about culture, standards, and behaviour.

Rant over. To end on positives: Lucia Garcia and Rach Williams put in a good shift and showed up. Strong, spirited players whose heads didn't drop. Fair play to the pair of them. Also kudos to Fran Kirby getting a dream send-off. Top player.

I'll miss Rach when she retires, and I hope that's not this summer. I also hope Lucia stays beyond this summer. I'd like a Garcia shirt to go with Toone and Galton.

youtube

#manchester united #man u #man united #man utd #manchester reds #mark skinner #manchester united women #mary earps #irene guerrero #lucia garcia #emma hayes #chelsea women #wsl #wlscommunity #womens super league #fran kirby #hayley ladd #ella toone #Youtube

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eebeewrites · 27 days ago

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Have you ever thought about a professor type of character? idk I just think that coming from you it would be really cool and sexy

Ps love your work and hope you have a great day

-🩶

wahh thank you so much!!

I kinda already have one, it's Eldrin! I started a modern AU thing of him (I essentially really just got into worldbuilding an urban fantasy setting and then put my whole pussy into it), but I haven't really had the inspo to continue it. Like, I remember having an idea, but I forgor. Eldrin is the start of 'if reader gets pregnant, the story gets abandoned' issue I have tho unfortunately. DO NOT LET ME DO THAT. IF I SAY 'haha what if reader-' kill me. shoot me on the spot. do NOT let me do that unless its like, a one shot or collection of parenting drabbles. those are fine, but in a main story it always fucks me up. idk why.

I do have another character that fits that archetype, but the issue is it's Taleisin's dad LMAO who is also Eldrin's older brother he has crazy beef with

INFODUMP LORE TIME YIPPEE!!!

In this setting, he's around 600 years old (omg daddy), and has the most extensive dad lore of all time; but he's also incredibly cynical, a bit of a pessimist, and doesn't take any shit. So...kinda the opposite of Tali. However, he's really passionate about making the world a better place through science and magic, and hates the government. what a guy.

He'll be introduced in Tali's story soon, but he's also Alex's mentor, and has made a few appearances in their story already. At the moment, Taleisin is unaware that his dad is teaching one of his close friends, and I think that's hilarious.

The setting in my modern series is basically the worldbuilding from the main project I'm working on outside of Tumblr, but 300 years later. Essentially, I realized I was gooning too much here instead of finishing my novel. So my solution to that was to simply goon in the same setting as my novel. It's actually been working pretty well, and has made for some fun worldbuilding.

But at that time, he's a barely functioning alcoholic who's first character introductions include him lamenting about meetings that could've been an email and turning a student down

He's turned himself around since then. Sorta. There's a ton of lore with both of Tali's parents that I'm very excited to dive into. Another fun fact, there's already porn of him on my blog. However, that story takes place 450 years before the stories here, and 150 years before my main project; here, he's a war veteran coping with PTSD while trying to get his old teaching job back, while also starting a relationship with a fellow war veteran hoping to become a painter. It kinda details his downward spiral.

Note; Aurora is not Taleisin's mother, Taleisin's mother is his third wife, Aurora is his second. Bro fucks.

I was BIG hyperfixated on them for awhile, but I might pick this back up if there's interest. Again, the dad lore goes CRAZY . Here's some snippets of him that fulfill me.

hes very professional.

i love him

As for a new character, I'd def be open to ideas! He's just. He's such a treat. I know I haven't posted much about him yet but you gotta trust me he's so rAAAAAH.

Thank you tho again for your kind words!! I think my problem with the typical professor trope is I'm a teacher IRL, so the professor/student relationships sometimes give me the ick. I don't judge anyone for being into it, knock your socks off hell yea! but because it heavily relates to my real life job I usually do something a little different :D

#eebeeyaps #🩶anon

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my-year-of-game-boy · 2 years ago

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Week 6: Pokémon Trading Card Game 2: The Invasion of Team GR!

You know, I had a whole anecdote that went on for three paragraphs about how I got the first Pokémon TCG game, but Tumblr ate it. I don't think it's interesting enough to recount and I'm on a self-imposed deadline. Here's the cliff notes: I had just got a Game Boy, and I wanted this game. My parents pulled a ruse to make me think I didn't have it. I was excited to actually be able to play the Pokémon Trading Card Game with people because everyone at school thought you just smacked down cards with the highest HP and that meant you win. Then I was remiss that they never made a sequel.

Obviously, they did make a sequel. That's why we're here. I hadn't heard about it until I was an adult, as it's pretty obscure as far as Pokémon games go. The game was never released in English and even the Japanese version was published by Creatures instead of Nintendo! Both of those facts make it a bit of an oddity in the grand scheme of things. I'm guessing that it didn't make it oversee more due to timing than anything. By the time it would've released, the GBA was already in full force and the Pokémon series had moved onto to Generation 2, and outside of a couple of promo cards, this game was still stuck with in the Gen 1 era.

I had a funny bit about how I didn't talk about the game for three paragraphs, but it's lost now, like trading cards in the wind...

The key points that separate this game from the one I spent many hours on over the years is the addition of cards from the Team Rocket themed expansion (As well as various promos, original cards, and the vending machine set that didn't leave Japan), a brand new story set after the original game, and the option to play as a boy or a girl. I especially appreciate the last point, even moreso because, again, the story is set after the original game and you play as the same protagonist. So, you know, there's some deep feelings there.

;_; When I first learned about the game, I found the fact that it only had, maybe, a hundred so new cards to be very underwhelming. I likely would have even if it came out in English a bit more contemporarily. However, the addition of a secondary land mass, unique rulesets for many of the fights in the second half of the game, and a drier amount of card drops at the start really do add a whole new feeling for something I was a bit worried would feel more like an expansion pack. That said, I'd still run with the old standbys of Haymaker, Rain Dance, and Charizard decks. Okay, that last one isn't as good, but nostalgia is strong and the AI is still pretty predictable.

Scyther clears everything, it just does, this is peak performance.

The fan translation by Artemis251 is solid and feels more like a proper localization than just a translation. The names of characters match the first game's English version, while pack art and logos are changed to be consistent with that game, as well. Some might argue that this goes against the purity of a translation, but personally, I respect the amount of extra work that went into this and find it very charming. The only real issues I came across was some text getting jumbled after reading it the first time in the Game Corner, and yes, this game has a Game Corner.

Playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game with Pokémon Trading Card Game trading cards!! While the story itself is pretty basic, bad guys show up and steal everyone's cards, you have to get them back, that's not what we're here for. We're hear for more sweet, sweet card games. One of the things I love about the Pokémon TCG video games is how they don't showcase the field as a whole by default. Instead of trying to poorly capture the layout of a typical TCG match on the Game Boy, the games instead focus on just the Active Pokémon, that combined with the menu layout, is very evocative of a traditional Pokémon game's battle screen. This works in spades and makes the series stand out and hold up a lot better than other card sims on the handheld.

Are you seeing this? What are they thinking about? I need to know.

The gorgeous pixel-artification of the already charming Pokémon card art helps with the appeal, as well. Some of these cards in particular exude a powerful energy. I think that's a big part of why the TCG has really preserved for all of these years, even with people who don't play it. It's a shame that we never saw another single-player Pokémon TCG game on, say the GBA, to see what the sprite artists could do on my powerful hardware that still wasn't quite up to snuff to render straight card scans. The pixelated version of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards just hit different.

This is my favorite card and my brother chopped it up when we were kids...

Playing this game was like making up for lost time, trying to squeeze the years without TCG games into this one little cartridge. I put 40 hours into over the last month, completing the main storyline while getting distracted by other card duels along the way. And there was still so much post-game content that I could stick my teeth into. Why didn't I have this game when I was 12? Does this game just represent any other aspect of lost time that I've been haunted by in my adult hood? Or am I just overthinking the fact that it's neat to get to play a sequel to a childhood favorite decades later?

I-is that Voltorb going to be okay?

#game boy #retro aesthetic #retro gaming #video games #nintendo #pokemon #pokemon tcg

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glimmerglanger · 3 years ago

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For the Bush League snippets, we know Cody goes to therapy eventually but what about Ben? Is he ever aware of his issues? Does Cody manage to talk about that with him (because he seems very aware of and worried by some of Ben's unhealthy coping mechanisms) and maybe convince him to talk to a professional?

deathdovesong asked:

Oh! What about Ben's thoughts when Cody asked why he stayed with him? Or some snippets on how Cody helps Ben change that mindset?

katlotte9 asked:

(did I make a tumblr account so I could send this? yes I did) I love love love your Bush League story!!! If you're still taking snippets, one thing I thought of was - there were so many hints of Ben's poor self-worth, why he stayed with Cody when it was so bad, etc. I'd love to see more exploration of that, & when Cody helps him face it. regardless of whether or not you do this snippet, thank you for sharing your amazing writing with us!!

OOOOOOOOOH, yes. Ben's very much a mess in his own way. This is set pretty close to the end of the main story, they're still in the post-season, in fact! (The title of this snippet in my doc was "Get Ben Some Therapy, STAT," btw)

~~~~~~~~~

They made it nearly a week before they ended up sitting down at Cody’s kitchen table so Cody could try to explain, in a way that made more sense, everything he’d tried to blurt out in thirty second increments during his first apology.

He’d realized, at some point in the intervening days, that nothing he’d said had really made a lot of sense.

He felt almost sick with relief that Ben had taken him back anyway.

And beneath the relief, there was worry, again, that a grand total of 90 seconds worth of panicked apologizing had…been enough, somehow.

Cody had no idea how to poke at that, really, and they were in the playoffs, and, well. It felt like something that they could probably discuss later, somehow. At least until after they won their first series and ended up in bed together.

Cody found, sometimes, that stories about growing up just slipped out of him, now. One slipped up to the ceiling with Ben curled against his side one night, heavy arm thrown over Cody’s chest, and the silence that fell when he ran out of words felt almost choking.

“None of that was normal, huh,” he said, quietly, and Ben shifted to pull him closer, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

“None of that was fair,” Ben told him, “not to you or your siblings.”

“It feels normal,” Cody told him, half a warning, because everyone said you took after your parents and what if he--

“Yeah,” Ben told him, warm and solid and so close. “You know, I--I think, maybe, you might want to talk to someone besides me about it. All of it. Someone like a professional.”

Cody blinked, processing that, and said, after a moment, “Like a shrink?”

“A counselor,” Ben said, rubbing his hand from Cody’s sternum onto his stomach and back again. “Or a therapist or something, yeah.”

Cody bit back an instinctive refusal. Both his parents had been…less than respectful of people in that field. The fact that he was - increasingly - sure that his parents were wrong about most things kept the words from spilling out.

“You think that’s a good idea?” he asked, instead.

“I think it’s not a bad idea,” Ben said, hand big and warm and so strong.

Cody exhaled. Drew in a breath again, smelling Ben’s shampoo. Maybe it would help to tell someone who--understood all this shit about…any of it. It couldn’t hurt to try, he supposed, and-- “You’re going to go, too?” he asked, because, well.

He was worried about Ben. The worry lived right behind his sternum, hard and heavy, and he had no idea how to go about fixing the things that worried him.

Ben made a little sound, shrugged against him, and said, “I don’t think I really need to.”

Cody shifted, nudging at him until he rolled back a little and Cody could shift onto one side, look him in the eyes. “You stayed with someone who treated you completely unfairly for six months,” he said.

Ben wrinkled his nose up. “That’s not the--”

“I’ll go if you go,” Cody said, instead of letting Ben make it into some kind of argument, and because he knew Ben wanted him to go, so--

Ben blinked at him, and said, “What?”

“I’ll go and talk to someone,” Cody repeated, “if you go and talk to someone.”

Ben said nothing for a long moment. He looked more confused than anything else, and then shrugged again, and said, “Sure, babe. If that’s what you want.” And--that worried Cody, too. But -- but maybe this would address it.

Hell, maybe whoever he talked to could tell him how he could--make it better, whatever it was that went on in Ben’s head that worried him so much. It had to be worth a try.

#glimmer replies #ask me anything #bush league snippets #bush league #they both have so much noise to work through #warnings from main story kind of apply

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