#the ones without a laugh track are better imo

[goddessxdivine]

saw someone on twt say they’re tired of JAW winning awards in the comedy category and it disrespects real comedic talent … raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by “is the bear a comedy” discourse?

love a mean girls reference lol but in all seriousness, to me, the bear is a comedy similar, but not identical, to the way shameless was considered a comedy. the easiest way to explain is basically what Joshua Jackson said when asked “is the bear a comedy?” at an awards show last year (I wanna say it was the Emmy’s , it’s on Reddit for sure).

i can understand wanting to call it a “dramedy” because there are serious situations that happen (grief, anxiety, depression, family trauma, etc) and there’s quite a bit of yelling between everyone but to ignore it being comedic is …. not it

there are little things said and done by everyone in almost every episode that’s funny. i think people expect to be laughing every few seconds or full on belly laughing as if they were watching standup or a sitcom (even then good sitcoms like Modern Family, Parks and Rec, etc have a lot of heart). but that’s not what the bear was ever meant to give.

like sorry but let’s not act like “everyday, Jeffrey ballet?” (Tina) or “duh! duh? duh! duh? don’t say duh! DUH!” (Nat & Carm) wasn’t funny. or “of the place? is that what you think mis en place means?” this shit is funny. you may not be cracking up with tears in your eyes but you can laugh. through all the chaos that happens at the bear, those characters are still regular people and people say funny shit that makes us laugh even in serious situations, dare i say especially, when things are serious. like very “laughter is the medicine”

[duckys-extra]

Chinese GP thoughts - it's basically my chance to yap

First I want to say does anyone else just absolutely adore the trophies for this race? I think it's stunning can't lie. Like one of my faves easily.

Starting with my boys

Edit: Wrote all this before disqualifications, my jaw is on the floor

McLaren

I mean just flawless from Oscar really. He had the upper hand all weekend, just seems more comfortable in the car. And honestly after last week he 100% deserved this redemption, like the universe owed him big time. I do have to say I think there was hesitation to let them fight after the first few laps not bc of team orders or nothing like that but more concern for tyres, they didn't really have the margin to work with for fighting and damaging tyres. Idk if Lando was in a position to really fight, obviously definitely not at the end. But Oscar was just on his own, he held that lead, the start was glorious from him. He really said "fuck off George" at that start and even really helped Lando get past.

Lando, honestly a solid race. But pretty nasty weekend, it got better as the weekend moved through and I suppose he did say last year "I'm not here to win sprint races" and he's sticking to that 🤣 I did lowkey expect a win from him because Lando was so strong on this track last year. But I did absolutely have a heart attack and doubt him keeping hat P2 with how fast George was gaining in that last lap. Thank god he kept it and we got the McLaren 1-2. Gotta hope the brake issue is a one time thing, not a reoccurring issue. I do think he wanted to fight for the win but also I was on his onboard the whole race, there was some sort of hint that they didn't want them really fighting. Not saying Oscar was protected but it did seem like there was hesitation and some coded messages referring back to the agreement pre-race.

Too early to call who has better odds from an objective point. But imo I do still think Lando has generally the upper hand and he won't be struggling on all tracks (I hope). If I do see people shouting that this race proves Oscar is better I may have to track down and jab people in the throat.

Haas

I just need to discuss them bc they were not spoken about nearly enough. Both in the points after last week they were last with no improvement in sight.

Bearman had me laughing when he kept saying "ciao" when he'd overtake. I mean his overtakes were also just great to see, I think it was very good to see him have a decent weekend after everyone was worrying about a bit of a repeat of a rookie coming in and crashing constantly. Redemption weekend 100% and it's great to see.

Ocon was moving in silence, or the broadcast just didn't cover him, but P7. I've always been a bit of an Ocon defender when it comes to him as a driver and his ability. Also not seeing any hostility between him and his teammate is a very nice thing to see. Ngl he's probably feeling much better about leaving Alpine for Haas this weekend compared to last weekend. My driver of the day for getting himself P7 ngl.

Mercedes

George is mr consistent rn. Credit where it's due, bc I had my doubts about Mercedes performance this year. I truly expected it to be a McLaren vs Ferrari show down but George is really rising to the challenge and I can't lie I think the dynamic of seeing what Merc is like without Lewis is a healthier and happier dynamic for all parties. Obviously we'll see how that goes once Kimi is out of his rookie year and they're in the new regs. Bc it is fairly obvious Kimi is considered the future and next champion for Mercedes even if George is consistent and getting those results for best of the rest.

Kimi, ngl idk how he got driver of the day. I mean by no means bad but I wouldn't say he was amazingly impressive today. He was there, started where he finished, kept himself in the points and out of trouble. I don't think he had a bad race, just an average one. I didn't really see much of him in a way that caught my attention. I do think there was more deserving drivers who should've got recognition even if it wasn't Ocon, I'd say either Oscar or Lando was deserving for their races. But good to see he's growing a fan favourite bc at the end of the day, that's a fan vote.

Red Bull

Max's back must be broken. Like literally. The amount he's carrying that team. Literally 100% of their points are his. And by some miracle he was flying at the end of that race, whether it was light fuel load, the hard tyres. Maybe a combination of both? Idk but like man is about to be a father, they should be easing their reliance on him not increasing it. I will say he does seem to be mentioning that he's happy and that he's happy outside the car which is the main thing...For me that is a red flag for Red Bull to look out for. If he's so happy outside the car, he might just decide to stop getting in the car.

Liam I mean I don't remember seeing him in the race aside from when Bearman overtook him. I will say I'm really starting to pity him every time I see an interview from him, he looks more and more beaten down. I do think he needs to stop making comments to the media, like Red Bull PR just need to be like "talk only about the driving, about the car, about the race or session. Stop talking about other teams, or drivers." Like they just need to implement that and essentially get him to stop running his mouth bc the more he does and the less we see in results from him. The hard it's going to get.

Seeing the way Red Bull is talking about him, the support is sort of minimal. They say he's a good driver, they blame the car but they're also saying "we need both drivers up there". I've heard this story before and the ending was harsh. Just watched Horner be asked about how much time Liam has and he didn't say "we've got this kid in the seat and we're keeping him" he confirmed time is limited.

Ferrari

Has Lewis been getting attitude lessons from Liam? This "I'll tell you when we swap" message was a bit of a joke, tbh. I know people want to defend Lewis but this attitude he's having is not it and he can try to defend it but he was holding Charles up so much. Within a matter of like 5 laps, Charles had a 2 second gap ahead of Lewis after he finally was allow to pass. That was with a damaged car. This is why I hate people getting ahead of themselves, yes Lewis had a mega performance in the sprint race but the truth is that doesn't account for much for a race. Idk maybe he's not enjoying that Ferrari aren't prioritising him but last year we saw the same thing with Merc when he'd hold George up and George had very apparent better pace. If he's going to hold his teammate up he has to get over himself and sending a message out like that. Ehhh no Lewis when you team tells you to swap positions and your teammate is half a second behind you, you fucking swap the position. Also wasn't a fan of him saying "Give me feedback" then proving that actually they had been giving him feedback bc he then followed that up by saying they'd already said that.

I will say idk whether I'd say the move to pit was smart. Either way Max was finishing P5 imo. The decision to pit just meant there wasn't a fight about it which would've used up tyres for Lewis in defending.

Charles, I mean damage on the first lap isn't great and he was at fault for that. I imagine he could've fought for p3 without it. Maybe not been successful but deffo fought for it. It's a hard call to make. I know people gonna say he was snappy on the radio but like he's snappy in a funny way that isn't really acting as an insult to the team. Also we know he's got an understanding with the team from 6 years of being there with them.

Lewis had a good weekend but I'm just not loving this attitude from him and him trying to justify it by deflecting onto other drivers and how they speak to their engineers. Ik he was misquoted as specifying Max, so I'm not going to dip into that. But I will just say I want to see Lewis regain his more respectful attitude bc Ferrari want him and he's start to become a bit of a dick towards them.

Brief over look of the rest

RB...horrendous luck. Neither incident that cost them their races was their fault in my opinion. Obvious great qualifying and Yuki got points in the sprint. It's just a shame. Hadjar just a victim of that incident.

Aston Martin, did feel for Fernando. Obvious the car is sitting steady in the midfield but that DNF wasn't his fault. Stroll...I think Brazil last year might've really been a wake up call for him. Bc he's kind of been on it for these races. Like out the points today but he's not disappointing anyone.

Sauber this track seemed to really not suit them in race form. I don't think it was representative, I hope not but we'll see. Haas made a strong come back so hopefully we can see that from them. Bortoleto obviously had that first lap incident, basically wrecked his race from there he was just sort of chasing the pack tbh.

Williams, kind of in no mans land. I want to see more from Carlos, I know he has better performance ability but I don't just want to blame the car bc obviously we're seeing better from Alex. I know it's the second race, I know Alex has the experience in a Williams. I know. But maybe I'm just sad I'm not seeing Carlos come out swinging and really showing us what we know he's capable of.

Alpine...Jack is a bit of a menace isn't he? 🤣 I suppose at least he finished the race. Gasly, similar to a lot of the midfielders he's just not very present so there's not much to go off of.

[reyrdemils]

In Plain Sight | Part 3 of 3

Words: 2,100(ish) | Rating: Mature (non-explicit sex imo) | Warnings: Mention of canon-typical violence Misc: roughly fits major MCU/DDS1-2 2015-16 timeline but tbh no DD canon plot points included, writing a happy Matt Murdock feels like he's OOC Relationships: Matt Murdock (TV)/Original Female Character (Unnamed) Summary: To be loved is to be changed.

This 3-part as a whole was written as part of Amanda's 2.5k Writer Challenge hosted by @mattmurdocksscars, and part 3 specifically is also written as part of Bella's 4k Follower Celebration Writing Challenge hosted by @bellaxgiornata. These two challenges were posted so close together, I had the thought of making one cohesive piece to fulfill both. It's been years and years since I've actually finished a writing project I've started, so I'm hoping it hits. Part 3 can in theory be read as a standalone but personally I think there's a bigger payoff starting from Part 1. This work features three prompts: "How do I look?" and "Is that my shirt?" from Amanda's challenge, and "Take it off slowly and turn around." from Bella's challenge. I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. (This part tested my dialogue tag/action/punctuation formatting patience and I will say, I did stop caring a little bit.) Click here to read Part 1. | Click here to read Part 2.

Being grounded to New York had been initially a curse, and later became a blessing. Literally, depending on who was asked. Work on her refractive armor had been shelved for more pressing priorities and international assignments had been restricted across the board. But she still had a suite in the tower, money she could access, and it turned out there’s more than enough goings-on in the state of New York to keep an “Enhanced Individual” busy without risking federal consequences by crossing state lines. In fact, it’s become evident that there’s enough happening within the city itself to keep her busy without leaving Manhattan.

He pushes open the bedroom door and for a moment seems to consider the scene before him, but only a moment, before moving to sit on the edge of his bed, laughing softly, “I know you’re awake.”

Once she understood how he managed to see through whatever kept her invisible to everyone else, she’d been set on finding a method short of death that might evade his heightened awareness. “One of these days it’ll work.”

“Keep telling yourself that. How’re you feeling?”

She turns over to properly answer him. Even after months of seeing under the mask she’s still struck by how expressive he truly is, how he can regard her with such tenderness. “Better than yesterday, thanks to you.”

It’s the truth, he knows. Her neck wasn’t as stiff, her arm wasn’t throbbing, and there hadn’t been any shooting pain through her ankle yet this morning. A marked improvement over yesterday, when he heard her limp onto his roof and nearly collapse a few feet from the access door.

He wasn’t thrilled, to say the least, that most days her work sent her to parts of the city where he couldn’t keep track, supposedly looked after by a tactical team but still unable to avoid being injured by God knows what. She’s told him the upgraded jumpsuit currently draped over the back of his couch had recently been confirmed as bullet-resistant, and he hasn’t noticed any blade wounds since the night he discovered her bleeding on a metal catwalk. Despite this, all his faith in her abilities and intelligence, and her confidence in the technology, he finds himself anticipating the day some secret agent shows up at his apartment with news of her death.

But he tries not to allow his worry for her to become anger at her. He knows she worries over him as well, and has her own moments of doubt in what she does. He won’t judge her for risking her health and safety, nor would he ask her to stop, especially not with a healing cut on his neck and a sore jaw—he just wishes he could prevent her injuries, rather than offering ice packs and acetaminophen while she’s lying in pain in his bed.

Though, he can’t say he minds her lying in his bed, currently in a tank top and underwear, until she tries to get out of it.

“Ap—” He pushes down on her shoulder, gently, to prevent her from moving further. “Where’re you going.”

“To the bathroom?”

“Not walking on that ankle.”

“I’ve walked further on worse.” She scoffs, one eyebrow raised.

“Not today, come on.” As he says this he shifts along the bed to sit facing away from her, his feet flat on the floor, hands resting on his thighs.

She has to laugh, “What are— what?”

“Come on,” his hands lift up as though it should be obvious why he’d turned around. “I’m giving you a ride.”

“No way,” she laughs again, shaking her head. “There’s no way!"

But, to her surprise, once they accounted for the injured areas, she was carried to the bathroom without incident. Though before he could carry her back, and after she took a moment to appreciate the full view of his bare legs as he leaned against the wall with his arms folded, she felt the need to clarify something that had caught her attention on the walk there.

“Is that my shirt?” She pointed at it, balancing on her good foot.

He pinched the fabric at either shoulder, clearly unable to hide the smirk that gave away the truth. “What, this old thing?”

“’This old thing?’ You— whoa!” In the span of a two seconds he had all but leapt forward to pick her up—unsurprisingly avoiding any sore spots—and started marching back toward the bed.

“Your ankle does sound better than last night, we should get some heat on it today.”

She could hear the smile in his voice, and couldn’t help smiling herself. “I love that you didn’t change out of it when you had the chance.” The risk of throwing off his balance was the only thing that stopped her from trying to steal a kiss. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice your one oversized, oddly long t-shirt?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He sets her down on the bed from just enough height to ensure a gentle bounce, and she immediately clambers up on her knees to face him, grabbing the bottom of the shirt to walk him closer.

“No, no, hang on.” She pulls around the seam to further examine the length, looks up to find him fighting to look serious, “You really tried tucking it in. Look at this, It hides the goods!”

“The goods?” He breaks into laughter, now holding his arms out.

She lets go and gestures toward where, sure enough, the fabric has fallen past the edge of his underwear. “Near criminal, completely antithetical to the cause."

His brows lift up as he puts his hands on his hips. “Oh, so it’s ‘near criminal’ for me but on you it’s ‘comfy pajamas’?”

A hand flies to her mouth, “An admission of guilt!” She shakes her head, disappointed. “Your honor, I have nothing further.”

“And what sentence are you recommending?” The soft affection on his face nearly melts her resolve.

When she leans in to whisper in his ear, he bends forward to lessen the distance, holding her close with his hand on her lower back.

“Take it off,” she presses a soft kiss to his cheek, “slowly.” His low hum follows her as she shifts to kiss the other side, “And turn around.”

It takes two promises: that she’ll let him keep his one oddly oversized shirt for as long as he wants, and that she’ll push the issue of her-compatible splinting and a proper helmet to whatever R&D Stark has these days. It then takes a persistent bit of mouth-to-skin persuasion, a reminder that they had been separated for three weeks, Matt’s version of a full body scan, her apology for calling it a “DD Scan”, an additional reminder that she might have an assignment upstate in a few days, and an agreement that if he notices so much as a hint of pain from her they’ll stop immediately.

She’s also not allowed to be on top—today.

But once he’s gotten comfortable between her legs, she can’t help feeling more than a little proud when he quickly forgets his previous caution—when he doesn’t hesitate to push harder at her request, and digs his nails into the leg he’s anchored around his waist. And when his teeth pressing into her shoulder feeds back to him through the clenching and shaking of every muscle in her lower body and the fingers woven in his hair, his stuttered groan of approval into her neck ratchets her so quickly back to the edge that she’s stuttering out her surprise into the top of his head. And if she ends up straining her already sore neck because of it, well.. he has a whole thing about forgiveness.

“Come on,” she hears, feels his lips somewhere near her heart. “One more, it’s right there, give me one more.”

“That’s— I don’t. Oh my g—” Her breath cuts short as he finds a particularly sensitive spot. “Matt, I don’t think—”

“I got you, come on.”

Honestly, she might not have had the presence of mind to look again after the fact, had she not opened her eyes at that moment, taking in a giant gasping breath just before the second orgasm seemed to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and snap, and ignite first her hips, then her stomach, rippling aftershocks down to her toes and up through her spine to tingle her fingertips. If anything, she certainly hadn’t let go—her leg had tightened around him to the point her hamstring was seconds from cramping, and the hand in his hair was now unintentionally but firmly pressing his face into her clavicle.

It took the sound of his muffled laughter to bring her back to awareness, and only after something touched the back of her other hand did she realize she had sunk her nails into his forearm.

“Sorry. Sorry.” It was little more than a sigh as she catches her breath, lets one hand fall to the mattress, releases the other from his hair to rest over her eyes.

“Please, never apologize for that.” He was smiling, she’d say he sounded appreciative if she could remember what that meant right now. “You okay? Need a minute?” She slowly becomes aware of a gentle drifting of fingers up and down her side. When she doesn’t respond he laughs, “Feeling any pain?” And when he drops a kiss on her chest and the slightest pinch just below her ribs, her hips jolt up so sharply that his whole body rocks on top of hers, nearly punching a groan out of them both, and she remembers to look around.

Her eyes blink open, “I… appear…” she grins at her phrasing, “to be on the visible spectrum.” She moves her hand this way and that, admires her fingers as though they were a modern marvel. “But I’m not doing it.”

“Is that so?” He hasn’t bothered to move, save for the hand now wandering along the length of her thigh.

“And this seems to have happened,” with him so close she can watch the tip of her finger meet the tip of his nose, “…in the last few minutes.” She traces, so softly, up to his brow bone, then across his forehead.

“Mm. And has this—” he picks that moment to shift and press further into her; rather more a roll of his lower body, as there’s no real empty space between them at present “—happened before?”

She wants to explain in greater detail, but with his hips moving and his mouth on her neck, and the wonder of seeing her legs without needing to focus on visibility, the words aren’t coming to her. “Not—not to my knowledge.”

“Interesting.”

Then something pings in her mind and questions start popping up: what if it’s not her body? What if it’s her vision that changed? What if this affects how he can see her? “Wait, Matt, how do I look?”

“Never better.” He sighs, his face almost behind her neck, wrapped around her as he is.

“Come on, I’m serious!”

“So am I! Okay, let me…” He lets out a grumpy huff. “I can’t…” She’s jostled a bit as he sits up, and she almost squirms at the abrupt loss of him, but otherwise stays still as he looks her over for the second time today. A bit more thorough this time, his hands smooth over every part of her he can easily reach. “Maybe? It doesn’t— well…” he trails off into a chuckle.

“What, what could be funny?”

“I was going to say that you’re warmer than usual, especially in certain areas, but, I think there’s.. mitigating factors at play there. Other than that, no change I can measure.”

“Nothing?! Fucked me visible. Came so hard I saw a ghost.” Both hands come up to cover her face. “And no evidence.”

"I'm sorry." There’s a hint of laughter in his voice that he can’t quite stifle. "I wish I could be more help. Y'know, you've always been visible to me.”

“No no, don’t apologize, it was great.” She drapes her arms onto his shoulders as he moves over her again, lets him guide both legs up around his hips. “I’ll have to tell someone about this, for research, which I’m sure won’t be humiliating at all.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” And he starts by bringing her into a kiss that almost made her forget she had a body at all, much less one she needed to constantly monitor. “How do you feel about re-heated breakfast?”

She smiles. “Could I get another orgasm and some old coffee?”

“Sweetheart, that’s the least we can make happen.”

[astronautbeans]

IM BACK AGAIN (THEBYTER)

Ive thought more of it... Spoke wouldn't want to comfort parrot imo he did do allat with the fake secret just to let out his anger on him so id imagine Ash would bring it up to laugh in parrots face and maybe nudge spoke to laugh too because Theyre so Similiar. Ripping away Parrot's friend from him. It strikes Spoke's last sense of defense in a way........ Like...

"Oh fuck I really am I like ash" s "I knew you'd come around , sooner or later the outcome won't change." a

The ceremony to me is like a big gathering or some iron trims , all gold and diamond trims with ash basically monologing the entire time if he doesnt urge spoke to reply

Also it would ruin any chance of spoke ever being free from the mafia because word spreads around. The big bad mafia boss has a non invis player working for him? And it's the guy that everyone has suspected(alongside mapicc) to be affiliated with the mafia?(Ifeel like im going insane mentioning this part because its so important to me. People saw Spoke and mapicc with mafia members , now they know Spoke is part of the highest ranked mafia. It all clicks together.)

I want to write Mapicc chewing him out because of it, spoke doesnt speak but once mapicc does lock eye contact with him something is genuinely off with spoke ,he's not the same guy who he sees as a little brother anymore. OK SORRY DEVIOUS SIBLINGS GOT TO ME Back on track now.

Another way id see ash make his win over spoke more visible would be adding amethyst to the horn bands.... i keep thinking of them What if spoke had like different horn accessories but cuz he had to go invis he took them off and now he has no more space left for them because of the gold/amethyst bands and chains and theyre also a bit too tight to take them off without pain so he just leaves them on........

I just thiught of hiw would spoke react to ash hugging him but like as a way to threaten tobreak his bones if he tries to do something stupid. Ash has mentioned multiple times that hes cut off people's hands in previous videos so Thats not too far of a stretch...Ill be back when I lose my shit again at 2am

jgfdsk hi sorry i finally got around to replying to this my bad it took so long

maybe he wouldn't outright comfort him but he knows loss too. every friend that dies, every person that dies in this world is gone forever,, and at some point he'd been friends with Parrot too. letting him just suffer like this is cruel. he'd hesitate, for sure. Ash is turning him into a monster, turning off his feelings. maybe he doesn't comfort him but he sure as hell feels his chest tighten with shared grief at the hatred on Parrot's face. directed at him because he's part of this too,,,

also gosh yeah of course word gets around. of course Spoke isn't the only one who's infiltrated the mafia. some people dare to hope, that it's all part of the plan, others see it for what it is: Spoke is one more face of the mafia.

AND YEAH OH MY DAYS MAPICC WOULD FIND HIM SOMEWHERE AFTER AND TELL HIM TO MAKE A CHOICE. his friends? or the mafia? and all Spoke can think is 'don't we have the same goal here?' even if he's been blinded by his own doubts and Ash's manipulation <3 this is not his little brother anymore bro you're killing meeeeee Spoke's grown up all wrong and Mapicc can't help but feel somewhat responsible, right? he should've steered him into a better direction, not gotten him into this

gosh dude you have many good thoughts. the horn decorations being too tight sfhdghksfhdjs and the hug too??? sdhgfjgfshdkdshj oh my daysssssssss

[turtlemagnum]

i definitely feel like in a fictional apocalypse scenario, trying to spare a known shithead (e.g. a raider) who shows no signs of wanting to reform isn't actually nonviolent, it's allowing greater violence to happen to others that you could've prevented; it's like a far less complex trolley problem where the 1 person you'd need to switch the tracks to put the other 5 people there on purpose. this leads to what i'd argue is one of the bigger problems with fist of the north star: ken's irresponsible passivity

from what i've seen, this was definitely far more of a problem earlier on (mostly before the final fight with shin). even later on as it has been, sometimes ken will do nothing when the villain's about to fucking murder somebody, and i get that from a narrative standpoint it's to sacrifice a no-name to make ken that much more righteous in his anger, but it feels kind of fucking obnoxious when our hero's just standing there doing jack shit.

i will say, though, this has absolutely gotten a lot better as the series has progressed. and i think this sorta coincides with ken becoming more... ruthless? is probably the best word for it, and i mean it in the best way possible. he still absolutely keeps that tenderness and kindness intact, and i think that's definitely a core part of his character (which is a good thing, imo), but it definitely feels like he has less reservations about going all out, y'know? it actually leads to some extremely funny moments, made all the better with ken's deadpan autism delivery (i laughed so fucking hard when he whacked the old man stuck to the Totally Not Goku's Power Pole into the dirt and said "could you please guide me without the commentary?", like the fact that he was so polite and straight-faced about bashing a man against the dirt makes it so much more funny to me)

i definitely feel like fist of the north star, as well as pretty much any other well written series with an absurdly overpowered protagonist, has to be treated a bit like a superman story. the thing that makes a good superman story interesting isn't if The Guy Himself is gonna get hurt, fucking of course not, he's goddamn superman; it's the people he has to protect you have to worry about. that's why the best thing to do with a protagonist with godly powers is to give them loved ones and honestly just a general appreciation for all life, y'know? it gives you stakes, and even if it's a no-name to you, the fact that any life getting snuffed out would affect the protagonist deeply is what makes you yourself care, at least if done right. but i think fist of the north star kinda moves a bit beyond this in a kind of beautiful way

when ken's fighting jagi, there's that moment when jagi's monologuing about how he went so far out of his way to fuck up ken's life personally, and ken just fucking loses it. and he gives his own little monologue as the blows land, he mentions all the people he didn't know that jagi hurt, he mentions how much yuria and shin hurt because of him, and he pauses for a moment. he pauses, clearly hesitant to say what comes next, but you just know he's about to say exactly what he did: that he's angry for how he himself has suffered because of the bullshit jagi pulled. and there's something deeply cathartic about a self-sacrificing paragon of a hero admitting that they've been hurt too, and that they're not just doing something for the sake of others for once in their life. he still fully keeps others in his heart and mind, but he finally lets himself matter as well, and i think that's beautiful

[izel-01]

Still haven’t been able to find a job, been applying and even reapplying hoping someone would contact me but nothing and I cant stand the idea of calling and getting rejected

So obviously I had to cancel some luxuries that I’ve once had and one of those being Spotify premium, I had the family plan, but with the price change and having no income I can’t have that luxury rn

So I canceled and my younger sister is acting like it’s the end of the world like? I already explained to her that it’s not a necessity sure it’s really nice to have it but if I can’t afford it I have to cancel it and when she woke up to the subscription being canceled she was not happy

She offered to pay, I kept declining bc I don’t think it’s fair that she would pay for something that I originally was paying for and last payment I asked our “ mother “ for to lend me some money ( I’m keeping track how much I owe her it’s not much but still I hate feeling like I owe people money )

Anyways our mother said we’ll talk later about it, my sister and her did talk about it without me ( which idc ) but they kept making “jokes” saying shit like “too bad for those without Spotify premium having to listen to ads” and honestly it was annoying but I ignored them not giving them the time of day

But it hurts cause like I know I can’t afford these luxuries but at least I have a roof over my head and a comfy bed to sleep but it was nice and I miss it but it’s not a necessity and I have having to depend on her for money even though I try not to ask for anything especially since she has to save money for that stupid parasite she’s gonna have but that’s for another day

It just sucks bc I’m the eldest I’m supposed to be the example but I can’t even get a fucking job - I refuse to go back to food service it is not worth my mental health and the pay was not enough - the second oldest doesn’t want a job which imo is fine bc she literally raised the youngest 3 but she doesn’t want to cook, do chores, or learn to drive. And it fucking pisses me off sometimes bc at least she has a purpose living here unlike me

I’m in the way and I know it even if this stupid bitches say I’m not I know I am bc my sister, my best friend, says to “just move out already” , “it’s not that hard”, “nobody wants you here”, etc and ofc it hurts cause the one person who has been through everything with me, who made me suffer (not her fault when we were little but now she should know better), the one who I consider my best friend/my other half is saying this stuff to me in my face

It usually happens when she gets really irritated or when she just snaps at me for any reason which happens almost everyday and I know I may be a bit too much (tough playing with the little ones or “butting” in stuff) but it’s how I show my appreciation and love and concern but she says it’s not my “business” or sum other shit calling me names

One time a while ago around Dec 2021 I’m pretty sure after we had another argument she said something along the lines of “if I was tired then I would not get up cause nobody expects anything from you” and that really hurt I don’t remember the context of what was said I just wrote it down in my notes just her saying that

What do I say to that? How do I move on from that? I obviously didn’t forget but I’ve not forgiven her either. I cook for her I clean after her I try to help her in any way I can I defended and still do to this day from our “mother”- I remember once around middle/high school when our mother was yelling and was about to hit her and I stood out in between them saying she’ll never hit her again and this bitch (the mother) laughed and called me a hypocrite I’ll never forget that and to this day she says she doesn’t remember funny how the most terrible moments of my life she claims of having no memory of and ok my brain is shit cause I physically can’t remember shit at all but I remember that clearly tears in my eyes, scared to death of standing up to her, scared of her but I knew I had to protect my little sister

Anyways it just sucks that I already know I’m a miserable example of the eldest child, but for them to keep reminding me like i don’t know already doesn’t make it better and I can’t tell my supposed best friend bc she is part of the reason why I’m slowly losing my will to do anything and I’m pushing myself everyday trying to cook more help with chores even more to show that I do appreciate them letting me stay here bc according to my mum I’m “ no longer her obligation”

Like I stopped being her child once I turned 15… but she would never dream of doing this to the younger 4 but it’s fine bc at least they have a fighting chance in this cruel world I really want the best for them bc they didn’t asked to be here but it must be nice to not have to suffer what I did

Me and the second oldest like to joke saying we were the free trial and the youngest three have it easy, and jokes aside they do. Like in that show “Good Place” when the main character said sum about her mum sum along the lines of “ if she could’ve been a better mum for ____ then that means she could always change but I wasn’t enough for her to change” and that fucking hit me like a train… cause she did change not for her, not for us, but for them her 3 precious angels (about to be 4) and that “loving husband” of hers, don’t get me wrong that’s a good thing but it hurts seeing them be treated how I deserved to be treated to get that “family” I will always yearn for, it’s still not good tho but hey it’s wayyyy better than my childhood at least I hope it is bc then it would all have been for nothing

[jabberwockymoreau]

Mike’s Monologue (Actually Romantic Version)

Hey y'all! So, a lot of the analyses I've seen about the monologue and things I noticed about it myself as to why it sucks ass were kind of just easily fixable things related to the editing of the scene. And because I have an editing software and thought it would be a fun way to practice...I fixed it. So here's what Mike's Monologue could have looked like if they had wanted it to be actually romantic.

Notes and process under the cut.

- Everything I used (except flashbacks) is from the original ~4 min sequence from them pulling El out of the water to her sending Henry flying (I’ll reblog with a link in a second)

-My version is ~3 mins long, shaving off a whole minute from the og. I did that by cutting out everyone else who intrudes on the scene, which is Will and Max but also shots of Lucas, Hopper, Eddie and Dustin in distress after the bulk of Mike's speech

-The ending is super interesting because El looks at Max and then frees herself, but as she does so we leave the mindscape and Surferboy’s: We cut to Max irl, getting her bones broken, Lucas beating Jason to go stand and look at Max dying, a shot of Hopper with a snarling demodog on top of him, Eddie getting eaten and Dustin calling out for him, and then back to Max and Lucas. Only then do we cut back to Mike still yelling "fight!" and El falling off the wall sending Henry flying. Which imo emphazises that this isn’t the kind of romantic love saves the day scene that it should have been if it was meant genuinely. It’s El remembering Max is in danger that pushes her to fight, not Mike, which is why we see all of her friends in danger as she frees herself. It’s not just Will between them in this scene, it’s everyone.

-Cutting all that was relatively easy because at this point Mike just keeps repeating "fight, El" so no dialogue was lost and I didn't have to futz with the audio

-Similarly cutting Will's prompting Mike was also so easy to cut, which just shows how unnecessary it was. Which, in turn, just hammers home how suspicious it is

-I simply covered Will and Jonathan's reactions to "hurt more" with a reaction shot for El, eliminating further intrusions on the scene by others

-The montage includes 15 different clips of memories, which is more than El has when she restarts Max's heart (10) and about the same as Max during Running Up That Hill (16).

-Making the montage made me realize how jarring the constant back and forth between Mike and El becomes, especially towards the end of the monologue, after that first memory: During Running Up That Hill we focus solely on Max after the boys put on Kate Bush, only cutting to them once when Max starts to float and even then Max is still in the picture, because we're in her head and need to see how she feels and how she's escaping. I tried to imitate that with my montage, but it's interesting that in the real version we get dragged back to Surferboy's and see Mike talk, making the scene not just about El and her fight to escape but also about Mike performing (when he should become just a guiding voice like the song)

-El's reaction in the montage except for the laugh after the t-shirt mention are all from after the monologue

-The most immediate and drastic change imo was when I changed the background music. Even without the montage the cut already works so much better with "Unambigious True Love" playing instead of "You're The Heart"

-I didn't have to do anything fancy to make the new song work. I simply underlaid UTL so the track lined up with the fade to black and it fit basically on the first try. The length spans the entire monologue, slowly building up and then cresting during the montage and falling as Mike calls for her to fight and the vines fall away. It would literally have been the perfect track to use instead of making up a new one and then naming it after Will's feelings.

-There are still a couple of things about the monologue that I couldn't fix, such as lighting, shot composition (Will is still visible over Mike's shoulder for example) and the actual text, which is still a bit weird, but overall doing this was very interesting because it made me think about what we should have seen if they wanted this to be genuine and the difference between what I ended up creating and what we saw on screen is stark.

In conclusion: They’re bones

[bowie-boy]

NOTES: For the first eleven episodes of Community I wasn’t keeping track of trans Jeff moments but I will when I rewatch. I also starred the key trans Jeff episodes (imo of course)

Without further ado...

Every transcoded Jeff Winger moment (I can remember) because he’s a trans man:

1x12*

getting punched in the face is his “male rite of passage” according to Pierce

1x14

“I’ve never been someone’s dirty little secret” the fact that he is now?? Transcoded

“I’m afraid of things getting official. If you say it you might later have to UNsay it.” Jeff was definitely terrified of coming out and realizing he was faking it huh

1x17*

Jeff is uncomfortable wearing short shorts in public and wants to wear his own clothes, he gets very uncomfortable when questioned about it

Abed says Jeff is 30% the trans guy from Boys Don’t Cry

Once again! Gets very defensive when accused of being panties

Coping with hypermasculinity is so trans

1x20

“What is THIS Jeff?” “My chest????” “What are you packing in these pants” “guys-“ this entire exchange is trans

1x25

Jeff being so done with tr*nny dance

That moment of him and Troy with the trans cookie in the same frame >>>

2x01

“An old drinking buddy who may or may not have had a sex change” makes Jeff cut Abed off and ask questions, I think he got nervous

2x03*

Blood test at a physical! Testosterone

2x06

Jeff is very protective over his suit

2x07

Jeff and Troy laughing about Y chromosomes because they don’t have them 😌 (yes Troy is trans too)

2x08

very proud of his chest, doesn’t want to cover it up at all

Jeff is very quiet during the period conversation

(I’m actually writing a fic about Jeff’s coming out that takes place during this episode)

2x10*

Jeff looking so confused and annoyed when Pierce said “I broke my legs not my gender”

Jeff giving Troy a manhood experience for his birthday!!!

2x12

all the women enter the same bathroom as Jeff

2x15

Pierce reading a supportive speech in case Britta is LGBTQ+ and telling Jeff to “wait for the one” he has for him

2x17

Jeff uses nipple guards when running

2x18*

“Abed...can I tell you something I’ve never told anyone else?”

Jeff had to wear a girl’s costume for Halloween

“Everyone kept saying what a pretty little girl. After a while, I stopped correcting them. What was the point?” Wow TRANS

2x21

“You disqualified yourself from this conversation [about women] the second you decided to grow a wang” “I regret nothing”

3x04

Jeff keeps his toiletries in a safe

3x05

Jeff being a vampire is transcoded I don’t elaborate

3x06* (this is just a great Jeff ep in general)

Threw a gay party and it was great

His dad fucking DISOWNED HIM?????

3x09*

“foosball was just masculine enough to get by without throwing it catching”

Jeff had a pony tail as a kid

“I changed my clothes, my hair, my personality”

“Foosball is how I defined myself as a man”

Jeff wearing a hoodie at the end of the episode?????

3x12*

Jeff “has bad posture and sometimes looks like he has boobs” according to Britta, a statement which made him uncomfortable and deflated his self esteem

Jeff really wants the award for most handsome young man

3x13-14

Flannel

3x17

“A man’s got to have a code. I can only assume a woman has an equivalent to that, like a codette or something” okay trans

3x19

Jeff really doesn’t like being separated from his jackets

4x01

I just think Jeff leading a dance with another man who is in drag is very trans coded okay

4x02

Jeff is so obsessed with his body that he must be a trans man proud of his transition

4x05*

“Jeff’s at the point in his life where he needs a strong father figure to come out to” is this not canon trans man

“You seem like a self made man.” “I mean, I kind of had to be.”

The entire scar thing

Jeff’s stepbrother or half brother or whatever being too “soft” for his father to like?? But Jeff who is hypermasc still not being enough????? Okay canon trans

4x07*

Jeff is really enjoying his manly barber shave

4x10

everyone bought Jeff a hoodie for Christmas

4x11

Jeff is really scared of commitment to things regarding permanent choices or his own identity, maybe he struggled with this for his transition when he was younger

5x04

Jeff “would rather look at himself naked than the people he sleeps with” because he’s proud of his transition

5x07

Jeff and Duncan did a boys’ night! Maybe Duncan knew him before he transitioned and it made Jeff uncomfy until now

5x08

“my penis needs no enlargement” proud of his transition af

5x11*

Jeff is/was obsessed with GI Joe which was like Thee boys’ cartoon

He can’t visualize his future which is trans

They bought him an it’s a boy mug 🥺

6x04

Jeff is really supportive of the dean’s sexuality, literally trans

Like Frankie is basically canonically a lesbian or at least queercoded

The dean is canonically queer

Why else would Jeff be there if not for the fact that he’s trans

6x05

Jeff getting mad when someone says he hits like a girl and taking his shirt off

6x06

Jeff is stressed about his emails being leaked —> he got outed?

6x08

Jeff is really proud of his scenes in the movie, he wants the world to see him fully transitioned and how manly he is

6x10

Jeff hoodie trans

He won’t shut up about cars because he wants to seem big and manly

Also in general his halloween costumes are all hypermasc. I think the study group really helped Jeff feel better about his gender identity and really made him feel safe. Thanks for reading!

[lucyandthepen]

I just discovered lesson on style and I cannot believe that I never knew its existence until today like really its one of the best series I've ever read. Like the banter is so on point that there were times that my ass laughed out loud at 3 am like seriously I love how the characters are flawed esp the mc like I don't think I've read an mc who is as blinded by her crush and thinks he is worlds away from her reach ( which people may think is rare but unfortunately common in high schools) so like this fic was a breath of fresh air and I think it's fairly obvious that jeno doesn't genuinely have feelings for mc or is that just me? I think it's like he likes being loved and is it just me or does he have some shady past or like is he struggling bc from what jaemin said I think he has stuff to deal with than actually have a real relationship rn

And I don't know how the mc is so dense not to see renjuns crush on her??? Like he deserves better and probably should move on (but I think he's similar to mc in the fact that he is resigned to just like her from the sidelines) but like he could have been a better friend too but I think he's working hard on that( but really the friend part goes for mc too tho to a smaller extend imo)

But my favorite character has to jaemin like he just makes her so comfortable without being overbearing which I think is best if mc actually wants a proper relationship but like only time will tell like I get this small vibe as in jaemin might like her but we don't know for sure.

I didn't realize I just rambled on for this long so I should probably stop rn so yeah your story really gave the joy of valentines day ( well the day after valentines at this point) for my single ass so thank you for sharing your gift with us

Sending you lots of love and warm hugs

my gosh... i did not expect such an amazingly detailed response to alos! first of all, thank you for messaging me with this! knowing what people think / feel about my works is always so helpful to me as a writer.

i think jeno's interest in mc is in her perosnality and of course her devotion to him — i feel like at that age (or even until now), if you kinda know someone is obsessed with you (in a cute harmless way, ofc), you kinda tend to want to probe? see why/maybe unintenionally pander to it? i won't say that he doesn't have a smidgen of interest in her, but the foundation of it is definitely unstable (which is funny because i do think it mirrors mc's interest in him because WHY DOES SHE LIKE HIM? it's just projection station at this rate).

mc IS very dense, in a very frustrating but rather (if i may say so myself) realistically childish way; i feel like people at that age just tend to be one-track minded most of the time, and it's very rare for people to be objective/to look at the big picture. both renjun and mc have a ways to go in terms of their friendship, but i will say their flaws are not really huge sins and just these immature flaws you kind of expect from people when they have little to no true emotional maturity... as mature as i felt i was in high school, i know i was emotionally still Not It LOL

jaemin ................................................... is one of those kinda mature individuals? at that age? i feel like him vs jeno is a key point because jaemin is alr at the cusp of exiting this small-minded, high school setting whereas jeno is still kinda vibing with it. i do think his personality is the best to have a relationship with, but time will truly only tell :^)

anyway, thank you for ranting to me and thereby allowing me to rant! i really appreciate your message and hope i can update alos really soon too!

[runawaymun]

Hi! Could I possibly request a drabble of some fluffy/comfort Elrond x Celebrían just being endlessly in love and/or comforting each other? Perhaps Elrond comforting Celebrían? I love those two so much & I see you do too so I had to ask! The Tolkien OTP to end all OTPs imo hehe. Thank you. <3

aaaaa yes!! This one has been sitting percolating for some time because I normally write angsty boi Elrond getting comforted by Cel, because I can't stand to see Cel sad. But I finally thought of something~

Set kinda early in their relationship. The twins are still pretty young!

tw for mild animal injury, but it’s all okay in the end don’t worry!

The Complexities of Avian Biology | Elrond x Celebrían | Fluff/Comfort

He found Celebrían in her rose garden, sitting on one of the carved marble benches in tears. That came as a shock, considering only that morning she had been cracking jokes at the breakfast table that had flustered poor Erestor, rescued Elladan out of a tree (he had climbed too high and couldn't get down), and had yelled some rather obscene things at a deer that had wandered into the kitchen gardens and gotten into the strawberries.

He rushed to her side without a minute's hesitation and discovered the source of her stress almost immediately.

The robin redbreast in her arms was on the verge of death, its breathing labored. She was just a crumpled mass of feathers, with one wing extended at a horrible, wrong angle. In the blooming cherry tree on the edge of Celebrían's garden, the robin's young cried for their mother.

"She flew straight into the window," Celebrían said through her tears. "She's in so much pain. And the babies--"

Ai, vivacious, bright, gentlehearted Celebrían!

Elrohir was so like her. He kissed the side of her head with deep affection as she stroked the robin's feathers. Gently, he covered her hands with his and stilled them.

"Give her to me?" he murmured.

Celebrían reluctantly relinquished the bird. The robin fluttered fruitlessly in his grasp. He could feel her tiny heartbeat beneath his fingers, irregular and slowing with each passing second. Her body was so delicate. The impact against the glass had been devastating. The broken wing was not the only injury.

Elrond cradled the little bird in his hands --his grip exceedingly gentle but firm enough to keep her from struggling too much and hurting herself further-- and began to Sing.

It was just a little tune crooned under his breath. Light bloomed in his hands, beneath his skin, illuminating the capillaries in his fingers. The joint in the robin's wing corrected itself and knitted, and he felt her skull do the same. Elrond sought through the Earth beneath his feet, listening for the correct rhythm that a robin ought to have, found it, and gave it back to her in Song until her heart beat in time and she was, once again, whole.

"There you are," he whispered to the bird, stroking her head with the pad of his thumb. "Well done, little one. That feels better, does it not?"

The bird cocked her head, eyeing him with evident disapproval now that she was still detained. Celebrían breathed a laugh and scrubbed at her face.

He opened his hands and the robin burst out of them and promptly crashed back down to the earth, fluttering, then staggered upright. She preened herself in embarrassment.

"Easy," he scolded. "Give it a moment."

She hopped experimentally, then pecked at the ground, and then at last flew up into the cherry tree to join her children. Celebrían hooked her arm around his and rested her head on his shoulder. Elrond reached over and dried those lingering tear-tracks with the hem of his velvet sleeve and dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

"Thank you, meleth nín," she whispered. A little sigh. "It is...so silly of me. They live such a brief time, but--"

"--never change, Cel," he interrupted, voice warm and fond. He put an arm around her and she drew a little closer to him. She lifted her head to kiss the corner of his mouth.

"A master healer," she teased, "Of robins."

"A fine compliment!" he laughed. "Their biology is most complex."

"I'm certain it is."

They sat there a bit longer, listening to the little cheep-cheep-cheeps! of the hatchlings in the nest in the cherry tree. Eventually Celebrían turned to kiss him again, a kiss which he habitually deepened as he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her even closer as they relished a moment to themselves that had become so rare since having the twins--

--a surprised yelp came from the far end of the garden and they broke apart to see a very red-faced Lindir with his hands covering his mouth.

"I am so sorry," he said. "But Elladan found his way up a tree again and fell out of it and has been completely inconsolable--"

Celebrían and Elrond heaved matching sighs and disentangled from each other.

"I suppose Peredhil biology can be no more complex than a robin's," Elrond muttered, straightening his jacket.

Celebrían snorted a laugh and stood.

"After you, master healer."

[nightingaelic]

Craig, Veronica, and Cass learn about Arcade and his father being in the Enclave and constantly running from the BoS and NCR? (IMO, Gannon isnt guilty of anything. He was a child when the Enclave was being hunted down. He actively tries to make the wasteland better!)

The only thing Arcade is guilty of is occasionally annoying Julie Farkas and missing his therapy sessions with Doctor Usanagi, cHaNgE mY mInD

Arcade sighed and tilted his glass of wine around in the afternoon sunlight. "My late father was... an officer in a group called the Enclave, a remnant of America's pre-war government. Memories being short around here, not a whole lot of people remember them, but they did bad things."

"Like what?" the courier asked, accepting the shot of tequila they had ordered from the securitron currently bartending at the Lucky 38 cocktail lounge. They ignored the little tray of salt alongside the drink and downed the liquor straight.

Arcade shrugged. "Terrorized communities, kidnapped people. Eventually, someone stopped them. I was born a few years later at a military base on the coast, a place called Navarro."

The courier slammed their shot glass down on the bar and froze. Arcade tensed too, wondering if his confession had touched a nerve, but was both relieved and terrified when they directed their surprise at someone behind him. "How long have you been standing there?"

Craig Boone: "Long enough."

It was the last voice Arcade wanted to hear, and he slowly spun on his stool to face the former NCR sniper standing by the lounge's entrance. Boone's face was as unreadable as ever beneath his beret and sunglasses, but Arcade could tell his guard was up by his stance: One hand open-palmed, ready to retrieve the rifle on his back, and the other curled into a fist.

Before Arcade could say anything, the courier stood up. Clearly, they sensed some kind of damage had been done. "Easy, Boone. Come over here. Let's talk."

Boone looked like he would rather jump out one of the Lucky 38's windows, but he stiffly approached the bar as requested. "So talk."

The courier's eyes briefly swept the room, searching for the words. "Do you remember what you told me, when I first met you? I walked into Cliff's shop to sell a bunch of Legion armor from that group that tried to get the drop on me outside of town, and you snuck up behind me with your tough guy shtick because you thought I might be a deserter trying to sell my own armor and cover my tracks?"

"If you're an enemy of the NCR, you're an enemy of mine," Boone replied darkly.

"Right." The courier put their hand on Arcade's shoulder. "Let's not repeat that incident, okay?"

Arcade didn't think it was a strong enough statement to convince the 1st Recon graduate, but it did seem to resonate with Boone. Slowly, the sharpshooter's fist uncurled. "Okay."

This appeared to satisfy the courier, who sat back down and signaled the securitron to fetch another tequila. Arcade looked nervously between them and Boone, who didn't seem to be going anywhere. "Should I... should we hold off for today, or..."

"Oh, sorry." The courier made a face. "He's waiting for you to continue, if you don't mind. He decided to throw punches first in Novac and ask questions later, so I kicked his ass and made him promise that if he was going to travel with me, he needed to hear people out before he judged them."

Arcade's gaze immediately swung back to Boone, who nodded so solemnly that he had to choke back a laugh. "O-okay then. Thanks. Uh, let's... keep going."

Veronica Santangelo: "Sorry, I, uh..." Arcade turned to find Veronica swaying back and forth between the conversation she'd accidentally walked in on and the exit, her face cycling through shades of pink. Eventually her curiosity won out and she dashed over to the bar, taking the stool on the other side of him. "Navarro? The NCR crushed it in 2248, or was it 2249... did you have to escape, or did you get out before they came after you?"

"We went south before it was sacked," Arcade answered, bewildered. "My mother and I left with a group of my father's old unit when most of the remaining forces fled east with the remaining leadersh- Veronica, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I originally came up here to tell Six that the King is looking for them," Veronica admitted. "Something about bodyguards and a guy named Warren? Harris? Anyway, it can wait, this is much more interesting. Did you hide in NCR territory, or did you just try to stay out of everyone's way?"

"Veronica," the courier pressed, leaning around Arcade to look at the Scribe. "This is supposed to be a private conversation?"

"Six, do you have any idea how rare it is to find former Enclave members?" Veronica protested. "They're like one-headed brahmin nowadays, on account of the..."

She trailed off in realization, so Arcade finished the thought for her. "On account of the NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel killing them off wherever they could find them."

"Mmm, there is that." Veronica squirmed in her seat. "And technically speaking, I would be obligated to report any known Enclave survivors to my superiors with the intention of having them executed or at least run out of town, but... how old would you say you were, when you left Navarro?"

"Around three."

Veronica beamed. "Well then I can't really call you an Enclave member anyway, since I don't think they were inducting kids into their ranks. Even after we got a hold of them."

"Uh-huh." Arcade studied her for a beat before turning back to the courier. "She's not going to go away, is she?"

"Probably not," the courier replied. "Even if I kick her out, she'll just keep bugging you until you tell her."

"Great." Arcade took a sip of his wine and pointed a finger at Veronica. "Not a word to anyone, okay?"

Veronica mimed locking her lips and throwing away the key. "You got it."

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: "Don't mind me, just trying to re-stock my first aid kit." Cass sauntered over to the bar like she hadn't just stumbled upon Arcade spilling his deepest, darkest secret, and slapped the counter to get the securitron's attention. "Found myself running a little low on my last outing to Red Lucy's in Westside, and I figured House had some of the good stuff hidden away for just such an occasion."

"We were up here for some privacy," the courier said testily, eyes flicking between Cass and Arcade.

"In a goddamn bar?" Cass whistled. "Sorry, must've missed the sign on the door. Or were you being serious, when you said we weren't allowed up here without an escort? Better remind Raul, he was up here yesterday to take in the view. And Veronica, she was making friends with the robots last week. In fact, let's have a staff meeting, it's been a spell since we got everybody together in one place. You can tell your sob story to a larger audience, Arcade."

"You're an asshole, Cass," Arcade said affectionately. "This wasn't supposed to be a performance."

"Oh no." Cass feigned embarrassment. "And here I am, barging in on you like a deathclaw in a doctor's office. The Enclave? Thought you were all extinct by now. Wait 'til Boone finds out."

"He won't find out," the courier warned her in a low voice. "Unless Arcade wants him to. Understand?"

"No argument here." Cass took the other seat next to Arcade and propped her boots up on the bar. "But I wanna hear this too. I don't have strong feelings about those Navarro folks either way, but it sounds like a thrilling tale. Might even take my mind off my own troubles."

The courier looked like they were ready to physically toss her out of the cocktail lounge, but Arcade stopped them. "She's fine. Annoying, but fine. Get your drinks, Cass, and I'll give you the full-length version."

Cass grinned. "That's what I'm talking about. Three bottles of whiskey and one glass, please. And none of that radioactive shit, I'm talking whiskey. Not Dixon Whiskey- whiskey."

[kehideni]

Opinion on NaLu and BBRae

OOOOOOO hohoooooo and 2 of the big ones tooo

NaLu:

I am a sucker for slow burn since i am an avid opposer of the "love at first sight" trope. They work as a fun team better than they would if they were your average lovey-dovey couple and i completely understand Mashima's reluctance to make them as open as he did it in Rave Master with Haru and Elie. BUUUUUUUUT he kinda slipped to the other side of the horse and is dragging it out so much i really don't care anymore. I mean if you were to tell me they had a canon kiss scene, i'd give a round of applause and that's it.

Natsu can thank his character development in a biiiig % to Lucy, because otherwise all he'd get is crazy powerups (which.... he still gets, but with Lucy he was pushed to be more than just another DBZ reference) <- i know i am being harsh on the guy but i kinda left the Fairy Tail media (and anime and manga in general) thanks to Machima and his one-trick-pony attitude. It's kinda derailing but i MUST say this because i AM angry with Machima i just don't talk about it.

Back to track tho, Lucy is one of those unconventionally strong characters that i love. If you know me, you know i'm not impressed by OP characters as much since i find strenght in different aspects than muscle. Lucy is a character that is tremendously strong and thanks to Natsu her outer strenght could match her inner strenght.

When characters offer so much and more to each other, i find that appealing because it's literally the found family trope.

And while Natsu was always focused on Igneel (therefore parental love) his outer strenght got matched by his inner strenght in this scene (IMO)

Let's not forget, according to the guild itself, Natsu never teamed up with anyone till Lucy came around and while at first he was just using her, she quickly taught Natsu that he is allowed to lean on others.

And i really don't need to show pictures to remind anyone that seen Fairy Tail that Lucy got inspired by Natsu's power.

Slowly but surely they got attached by the hips, particularily inseparable and we always love a face that just lost someone irreplacable to him:

This is the face that just got told to SUFFER!

(although where was his super hearing in this scene? my man you stupid)

Have a lot more to say but there is another big name here isn't there!!!

BBRAE!!!!!

weareignoringTTGthatshowdeservesnomoreattentionfrommethanfamilyguydoeswhichisnearnothingexceptforsomeselectfewjokes

So as many other people i started with the 2003 animated series adaptation of Teen Titans.

I wasn't as aware as a wee' monkey that i was ace, but i very much so was already even back then i just wasn't aware it was a thing that i was. This is an important context.

You see as a kid i was already aware of tropes (even if i didn't know that's what they were called, in my mind i called them repetitions) and my kiddo brain caught on that Beast Boy and Raven were written as an "old married couple".

And you know what? There are scenes that are like "if you squint this probably hints at that". Like in "Fear Itself" Beast Boy being the first to get captured suggesting Raven fears losing him the most or RAVEN!!!! being the first person in the team to laugh at one of Beast Boy's jokes (episode: "Go!" chronologically the first episode) or how even in an unconscious, feral state Beast Boy registered Raven as someone to protect and ever so gently placing her down to face the rest of the team (AMONG THEM CYBORG IS VERY BEST FRIEND) and not registering them as allies in "The beast within". And let's not leave the infamous hug without mention

Did you know that among the hugs that Raven initiated this was the first?

And i also have a soft spot for "look twice" tropes, because at first glance Beast Boy and Raven couldn't be more different. Except... they share a lot of qualities.

Both of them have a sense of humor that's on others' expense, even if they are mostly harmless jokes.

Both of them are rather secretive, it was a plot point in Season 5 that none of the Titans knew Beast Boy already is part of a superhero team.

Both of them fancy hiding from reality in fiction (it's just the nature of fiction they like is different).

Both of them is emotionally stunted, it just took a different form. While Raven tries to be the invisible one, Beast Boy wants your attention where he points it at. (It's a form of "invisibility" too. To guide your attention to where he wishes.) So while Raven just avoids attention all together, Beast Boy draws your attention right to his "mask" and you are non the wiser.

When i later on learned they are a thing in the comics, i really was like "that's natural". Of COURSE they are. (were u_u)

And here's the kicker: even when they are not romantically involved, the two characters are somehow always tied together. Even if it's just a strong platonic bond. They are never neutral with each other!!

I also find it rather funny, when the one to fall first for the other, is the one you don't expect to :'D IIRC Raven fell in love with Beast Boy first, and he reciprocated later. It's so hilarious for some reason... i expect BB to fall for Raven and work on convincing her, but it's the other way around?! Irony GOLD!

[darktypeimagines]

My god man whenever you get the time can you feed the poor? I’m desperately deprived of Avery content and it deeply wounds me :,)

Light NSFW? Avery’s first time with his s/o?

Also gl w/ college lmao; it really do be a bitch lol

Ahhhh sorry you’ve been starving so long. College is INDEED rough, especially graduate school! If you’re still around, I hope you enjoy.

I really do love this dude, wish he was more than just a DLC character... Put under the cut for light content, vanilla flavored (imo). I tried to keep it vague since you did not give much information on your character.

The summer, midday sun beamed down on you, but luckily, it was a rather mild day. A light breeze pulled at your hair. You were in downtown Wyndon, sight seeing with your partner, Avery. You two had been dating for a while now, easing into the comfort of a steady relationship. And while Avery was the one who asked you out, you were the one who usually initiated things, like your first kiss. You weren’t 100% sure, but you felt a good amount of shyness beneath his usual overly confident demeanor.

But, that wasn’t always the case. Today, you rushed up to one of the shops, peering through the glass at something that caught your eye. As you were absorbed in trying to decide whether or not to turn your window shopping into actual shopping, you felt the familiar yet odd sensation of something dragging lightly across your shirt, from your right shoulder to your neck. That feather-light touch could have been mistaken for a caress, but you knew better: No one was there. You shot a glance at Avery, catching him looking in the exact opposite direction, although you could spot a small smirk growing.

You decided it was your turn to surprise him. Doing a sharp 180°, you marched right over to him, grabbed his arm and interlocked it with yours, and guided him to your shared hotel room you were currently booked at.

“Y/N, what exactly are you doing- wait, Y/N-!” He protested. This continued for about a minute, until he apparently realized what direction you were leading him towards. At that point, he got very quiet. Rather unusual for him, you noted.

Avery was the one who had booked the hotel, the most expensive one in the city, The Rose of the Rondelands. When you tried to tell him you wouldn’t mind staying someplace… less expensive... he insisted on booking at “the most elegant offering” in the area. Now, the artificially aged red brick building stood before you, its green neon sign glowing brightly even in the daylight. You went directly through the double doors without stopping.

Neither of you looked particularly “in place” at the hotel; most of the other temporary residents were business people, the rich, and the famous (or the rich AND famous!) A friendly Honedge staff Pokemon greeted you as you entered, and you waved at it and kept walking towards the elevator.

About a minute later, you both got to the room, slightly out of breath, and just… stared at each other for a bit. You both knew why you were here. It was just the… starting, part… that was hard.

And then something slightly devious came to your mind. You told him to do it again, the psychic touch thing he did before when you two were outside. Only this time, you wanted him to go further, you told him.

To say he blushed a “bright pink” would be an understatement. In general, Avery would be awful at poker with how expressive he is, and you could tell he definitely wasn’t expecting your suggestion. But, he regained his composure quickly, and before you could say more, you felt your feet leave the ground and a light blue glow envelop you, and you found yourself levitating across the room, and then gently plopped onto the bed.

As Avery removed a few of his more delicate garments with his back toward you (that hat is expensive, and he JUST isn’t into things getting ripped in the excitement), you felt that light touch again. This time, it was a bit more tingly, almost electric in a way, but not painful, rather, it was pleasant. This time, you felt numerous little trails, almost like the tips of someone’s fingers, gliding across your stomach. They rose, further, across your chest, and pulled your shirt off of you.

He returned to your side, pausing a moment to admire you, then laid down next to you, minus most of his accessories and his glasses. Pulling you into an embrace, he pressed kisses along your neck, but eventually stopped.

“I… may have made a bit of an assumption. I didn’t go too far, did I?” He asked, his head still buried in your neck.

You told him it was perfect. And that you wanted more.

It didn’t take him long to act on that. Not even half a second later, he was atop you, trying to undo your bottoms in the dark. With the curtains drawn and the light off, it wasn’t easy, but eventually, the two of you were skin to skin. Kissing you, one of his hands drifts downwards, gently pushing inside you, and after a few moments, another finger joins it. They gently pull out then in, and you sigh as you feel yourself loosening.

You lose track of time; it could have been five minutes, it could have been five hours. But eventually, Avery removed his hand, and with a bit of help from his psychic abilities, you heard something unzip, and then something flew into his hand. He pumped it, and you heard a gushy sound, and figured out it was lube. You were about to question him as to why he had it. Did his “Future Sight” hint to him that he might need it? Or was it just for his own needs? (A convenient plot device?!) But, the question soon left your mind. After he readied himself, you felt his hand return below, this time, more slippery, to prepare you.

You were impatient; you told him you were ready. Avery worked you for another minute, then apparently agreed with you. Removing his hand, he shifted his body upward to bring you into another kiss. His cock slid against your entrance, hips meeting yours as he teased you. With a thrust, he tried to enter you… and missed. Too high, no, that’s too low... With a laugh, you guide him into you. They make it seem so easy in the movies and books!

Despite the early misses, it was bliss. Once again, you entered that timeless state, only able to focus on him and his movements. He followed your lead; once you started getting impatient and mimicked his thrusts, he picked up the pace, earning a satisfied moan from you.

As his movements became rougher, more erratic and needy, he began to shower you with praise. Except, most of it was nonsensical, your name and moans mixed in between the words. (Normally, you’d think it was cute, but you were a bit busy at the moment) With a breath, he gave you one last, hard thrust and came, then flopped, not particularly gracefully, beside you, exhausted.

“S-sorry,” He said out of breath, “You were just so exquisite- elegant even, I couldn’t hold back any longer.”

You laughed a little and cuddled into him. It was fine, you told him; you were both happy, after all, and that was the point.

Apparently, he had something else in mind. He crawled between your legs, spreading them. It was still too dark to see, but you felt warmth as he slid his tongue across your sex. As he pleasured you, you felt his psychic touch once more, this time circling both nipples. It was hard to describe, but in a way, the feeling reminded you of a vibrator, minus the vibration. Just the tingles, in a sense.

With an arc of your back and a small moan, you climaxed, tensing up. It hadn’t taken long, given how close you were, AND the fact that he was using his abilities again.

Pulling his hair out of the way, Avery rejoined you at your side. Both you laid there in silence for several minutes, enjoying the cool AC and each other’s heartbeats.

“That… was most unexpected,” he said lowly, almost half-asleep.

Not the bad kind of unexpected, right? You tease.

He opens his eyes and smiles warmly at you. “Not at all… I enjoyed every second of it.”

[nerdynuala]

hc/ oneshot of levi coaching hanji bc they were about to fight w the mp bc someone was making fun of them?

First off, I'm so so sorry anon I really took my sweet time with this one.

The thing is I don't usually write anything beside very random headcanons when inspiration hits lol

I've been debating whether to try this or redirect you to a fanfic writer's blog since I'm not confident about my writing and my English is kinda rubbish imo.

But yeah, in the end I gave it a try. Also, sorry Anon but I'm not sure if I got exactly what you were asking for, and I went full MP huge fight mode. And it's kinda turned into vets stuff. I still suggest you ask a writer to do this, there's many cool blogs out there who can do a much better job in half the time lol

Anyway, if you wanna read my poor attempt at writing, here it is.

Warning: just some swearing, she/her pronouns for Hange

"Look, if it isn't the crazy bitch from the Survey Corps" a man with a raspy voice barked.

Hange dreaded those meetings with the MPs, no one in the Survey Corps could stand them, to be honest, but still, they had to put up the façade and feign some civil behaviour for the sake of the Scouts and the funding. Hange was well aware she had trouble controlling her temper most of the times, and experience taught her that she couldn't stand the Military Police talking badly about her comrades.

She knew that Levi and herself together managed to make a few scenes before, and Erwin particularly stressed it every time before one of these meetings. "And please, please I beg all of you to refrain from making scenes or even talking back to anyone. We're there to make a good impression, we need funds and fo heaven's sake the last thing we need is for them to have an excuse to think even less of us and undermine our funds" he said every time, with a pointed look directed at Levi and Hange.

She turned and stared right at the Military Police man who was talking about her. She smiled and waved, "Yes, that would be me, it's a pleasure to meet you!".

Levi snorted at the facial expression the idiot made. He hoped that Hange brushing him off like that would settle it, but he had been to enough meetings to know it wasn't over at all.

"She probably didn't score high enough to get into the good Corps. That's what they do isn't it?" the man nudged a colleague in the chest, gesturing towards Hange.

"Aye, scoring shit and then ending up in some titan's mouth. They're replaceable anyway" the pug-faced man joined the teasing.

Levi could sense Hange tense next to him. He knew what she felt, he loathed hearing comments about his comrades just as much as she did.

She laughed it off, though. "Maan I would love to watch the insides of a Titan! What do we have to lose? Another cadet will score shit and they can take my place. Unless some of you feel the thrill of bravery once in your life and decide to join" she shrugged. "Who knows".

Levi knew this could only get worse. He tugged her sleeve. "Hange, come, let's join Mike and Erwin".

"My, my, if it isn't humanity strongest!"

"The underground scum you mean"

"No, no, he's a hero now, isn't he? Should've been thrown to prison and was rescued by Smith like a fucking stray dog"

Both men laughed, while others were gathering around.

"Shut the fuck up all of you!" Levi admitted to himself he would have snapped just like that, but Hange had anticipated him. His eyes went slightly wide for a moment, but then his lips briefly curled up in a small smirk upon seeing the fervor in Hange's brown orbs.

He would have loved to join her and teach a lesson to those morons, sure, but they promised Erwin.

He tugged again at her sleeve. "Oi, it's not worth our time, let's go".

The MPs laughed. "Only thing that's worth the time or your sorts is getting minced up by some stinky titan's mouth".

Hange tensed and she opened her mouth to strike back, but Levi gently made her turn to face him.

"Let's not get into trouble", he said, staring directly in her eyes.

"But Levi you should-"

"Yeah I want to break their fucking noses as much as you do. But we promised Erwin" he tugged once more.

The MPs laughed again, louder this time.

"Erwin Fucking Smith keeping his lapdogs tamed!" roared the pug-faced one.

"No wonder he needs to tame them" laughed another one with an annoying high-pitched voice, "look at the kind of lapdogs he got himself! One's a nutcase eager to step into a Titan's mouth, the other one is a pint-sized thug fetched straight from the filthy undergound" they all laughed. "I think we're missing one..." he feigned thinking hard, with a hand on his chin.

"What did you expect from the Survey Corps and Fucking Smith? That's the best he could get, to be fair" a black-haired man joined them.

"Not that he particularly cares..." he added with an unpleasant smirk "these are just chunks of meat he is more than willing to feed to titans, anyway".

That was it. That was just what drove Hange over the top and Levi knew it. He could feel her clenching her fist under his hand, he felt her muscles tremble. He looked at her, she was clenching her jaw, a fiery light in her eyes, cheeks slightly flushed. She briefly looked at him, and he didn't need words of any sorts. He let go of her arm and nodded.

Hange launched herself at the black-haired man and punched him on the jaw.

Everyone was shocked.

"Do you idiots have anything else to say?" She challenged them. "You can talk shit about me all you want, I don't give a damn, but show some respect to my comrades, people willing to DIE for your fat asses"

Levi watched her. She was scary, definitely scary when angry. He briefly smirked to himself, she had used one of the moves he taught her while sparring.

She suddenly grabbed the collar of the pug-faced man. She lifted her fist and the man flinched.

Levi approached her but he just glared at the MPs. "I won't restrain her, you called it".

He turned towards Hange. "If you punch him in the nose like I thaught you, you'll knock him out and fuck him up, but not enough to kill him".

"I know" she growled, but she clearly was trying to control her impulse to strike him.

The man had the courage to smirk. "Did Smith manage to tame the thug but not this nutcase of a weirdo?".

Hange hit him on front of his nose with the heel of her palm. He passed out instantly.

It was chaos, the other two men launched themselves against Hange. Levi announced "I've got your back, Hange" and the fight started getting bad. Levi's eyes were checking Hange all the time, he knew she could handle it but he resolved he would avoid risking her getting hurt.

Erwin, across the enourmous room, paled. He heard shouting and suddenly a group of people were hitting each other. Levi and Hange had been gone for a while, and he had a gut feeling they were right in the middle of it.

He was speaking to an important old man who may just want to fund the Corps if he worked him correctly, he couldn't leave him. Not now. Erwin subtly excused himself and fetched Mike, without getting more than two steps away from the man.

"Stop them" he whispered close to his ear.

Mike's eyes travelled to the corner of the room and took notice of the fight. He didn't see Hange and Levi since there were a lot of people gathered around, but he didn't need to see them to know they were there.

He stared at Erwin. "The two of them?" he whispered back, "You think I can stop the two of them? Are you nuts?".

"Just do something, please. I can't leave this one, he's going to fund us with some good amount of money" he clapped Mike's shoulder.

Mike sighed. "Fine" he said, murmuring something along the lines of "wish me luck" while he made his way to fetch his friends.

He sure had to admit he didn't think it was this bad. Hange was clearly having the upper hand and she was the one who was hitting the most.

He grabbed her from behind and lifted her up, gesturing to Levi to stop the fight and keep the opponents away. She kicked around and ended up elbowing him on the temple.

"Fuck" he hissed, gripping her waist tighter "Hange stop! It's me!".

Suddenly, Levi was on his side.

"Let go, Mike, I'll show them" Hange was struggling to get out of his arms, hitting him in the process.

"Levi do something! What the hell" he hissed again, getting frustrated.

Levi caught Hange's wrist and she looked at him. "That's enough, Hange" he said calmly and she sighed and tried calming down.

Hange's gaze lingered on the mess she and Levi made. Well, it was mostly Hange's doing.

Feeling her relax in his arms, Mike released her and let her again on the floor.

"Erwin's gonna kill the both of you" he looked around. His eyes stopping and widening as he took notice of the limp man on the floor, two of the MPs were lightly slapping his cheek. "Is he-?"

"Just passed out" Levi interrupted.

Mike sighed and rubbed a hand on his face.

"There's the lapdog we were missing" the man with the high-pitched voice chimed up. "The sniffing weirdo".

Mike smirked. He put a big hand on Hange's shoulder and turned her aroun. "Let's go, Hange. Levi" Levi nodded and started to follow him, when the man with the black hair spoke up again.

"I've always thought he is involved with Smith"

Mike laughed. "I sure love that man, but I don't think the nature of our relationship is any concern of yours"

"That explains why he's been around for so long. Smith doesn't want to feed him to a titan like the fucking rest of these idiots"

Hange turned around vehemetly, but Levi stopped her before she could speak. "That's enough, Hange, they weren't even worth our time to begin with" he said in merely more than a whisper.

Mike stopped in his tracks.

"I'll have you idiots know he's been around for so long because he's fucking capable of staying alive and keep his squad alive. I'd love to see some of you out there" Mike was surprised Levi interjected to defend him, but the insults towards his capability wasn't really what had bothered him.

"Listen here" he said, turning around to face them. "You can say all the shit you want about myself, but not a word about my friends or Erwin for that matter-"

They laughed. "Isn't it funny how they fucking defend him and the coward is just throwing them to their deaths instead?". The black-haired man roared with laughter "Fucking idiots".

Without warning, Mike punched one in the face and Hange punched the other on the nose, the loud crack all too telling as to what happened to the bones.

Mike sighed. "I guess Erwin can't kill the three of us in one go".

Levi walked closer to Hange. "You okay?".

She nodded and stared at him. "Thanks for trying to stop me. And for understanding I didn't-"

"Want to be stopped" he finished for her. "I get it. I'll always have your back, Hange, but let's be more careful next time. They weren't worth it and I don't want to risk you getting hurt".

She smiled. "I got carried away, but you saw I actually learned your moves?"

Levi smiled. "Yeah, we should work on them".

She nudged his arm "That's not true, they were perfect and you know it".

"Yes, they were perfect".

[soundsaboutrighttumblr]

WBL meta ep 4.

On lucky ones and fools for love, of which there might be not one, but two, each, on broken means of communication and bridges, hierarchies and equal footings in relationships. Started out as typing along each scene, but then one scene stole all the paragraphs, so I cut it a bit short in the end. So yes, kinda my stream of consciousness again.

 -          We are reminded: Shi De’s mails have always been unanswered, his messages, after 1 year approximately, stay even unread. Communication and its multitude of possible errors will be touched on… good.

-          We are told: Little baby Oscar is Shi De’s brother. Ashley probably his step sister that helped take care of Oscar while Shi De’s mom recovered. Shi De stayed, because of his mother’s health and problems in the company, to help out the people he loves, because they are his family, too. Besides Shu Yi. That made two months into two years.

The scene that stole all the paragraphs:

-          Moving light on concrete walls, bowls and symbols of present and enduring care and nourishment, a fresh morning, fresh eyes, new awakenings. Man, that scene is everything, not only because it is the scene where Shu Yi will realize imo that this man before him did not cheat on him, without anyone explicitly  having to address it. I love this scene already. Will there be fic? Possibly. First, watch me type through it like this, if you want:

-          They turn towards each other, like really facing each other. At eye level. Do I make myself clear, lol? They are both sober and rested and calm and are looking right at each other, in a safe space, with morning fresh eyes, eyes open once more after their night TM, a period of darkness, that might have stretched longer than this actual night. Yeah, I am feeling dramatic alright.

Boy do I love that Shi De just starts to speak. Apologizes sincerely, and for the thing that shows that successful communication actually can happen between those two, when they are together, that Shi De actually has listened to Shu Yi and his side and considered it and is aware of where his fault lies, to a degree.

He admits that he realized he didn’t believe in Shu Yi’s forever.

I understand the following lines as carrying the sentiment: Shi De always loved Shu Yi, but as he said to Dad, he wanted to be with him forever the moment he got together with him. Before that was his one sided love, a vague concept of love, but the dream to be together with Shu Yi was just that, a dream. One that became concrete and true, and that was the moment Shi De actually felt and decided he wants this forever.

It became a decision to commit, and the process of it becoming real for Shi De, a decision that reaches into his reality, it took ten years. So he was reluctant to believe that for Shu yi that process of reaching certainty could have happened much quicker. He only had his own love as reference, and used to carrying it all by himself, that standard made him question, if Shu Yi COULD be as certain as Shi de was, after arriving at his decision after 10 years, versus Shu Yi’s rather recent-feeling awakening.

– maybe Shu Yi loved you for longer, even if his knowledge of it was asleep, Shi De, you know he comprehends things in his sleep, we know that about him, right? Sorry side tracked –

Shi De realizes, and TELLS Shu Yi, I mean that scene, he just tells and talks, the marvel… sorry, Shi De realized he DID not believe Shu Yi’s devotion to be the equal to his, thought that Shu Yi was just swept off his feet by the moment, and then he realizes, that the fault for that lies in his own insecurities. And he says that. To Shu Yi. InternalYesScreaming.

-          Okay. The intricacies of miscommunication and manipulation. Dad’s arguments were received by Shi De with open ears, because they were thoughts and insecurities, he’d already had himself. The worry of being not good enough, of holding Shu Yi back. That’s why they work even if Shi De realizes he’s being manipulated by that entire put together scene.

-           And then Dad presented that broken phone, the symbol of broken communication and broken bridges between them, on a silver platter almost, I mean do you remember the way Dad orchestrated that meeting with the food and the waiter handing him the device on silent cue? It must have felt like things were truly broken beyond an immediate chance of repair.

-          BTW : Dad holding the cards, ahem, the phone, the means of communication between them in his hands? We will remember that later, right.

-          So yeah, the only chance Shi De saw to salvage anything of it, was in the future. So he gave himself those 5 years, to be worthy to stand next to Shu Yi.

-          I think that is about the time that Shu Yi realizes, finally allows himself to let it click, that this man never looked at anyone else but him. Like, that for Shi De, there is no one better on this planet than Shu Yi, there’s no arrogance that a cheating situation could have been born out of.

-         Also? He sees that Shi De actually has always perceived himself as inferior to Shu Yi, deep down, and/or is afraid Shu Yi might see him as such, which is a reversal and touch on their theme of who is No 1 and Mr. Second, see conclusion waaay down below in highlighted on this monster of a meta.

-          The power of it. For Shu Yi to be able to finally SEE Shi De and who he is enough again, that he can overcome his doubts. Without Shi De addressing the misunderstanding, but, and that is important, by Shi De TALKING. About himself, without pretense for strength. The misunderstanding is made nil by communication per se, not communication about it but by the essence of communication, of baring yourself to another, who listens, and understands.

-          Gah.

-          The way Shu Yi finally acts, when Shi De mentions someone better for Shu Yi. Like there would be someone. How he makes him face him again when Shi De starts to get lost in his own self-flagellating thoughts. Reminding him, this is not a monologue this is a dialogue, by making him face him again. So important, because that happens with them when they are in a room together. They can draw each other out of their heads and communicate.

-          Btw, there are wet spots of tears on both their pillows.

-          And yes, he puts it in words. That it is his call to choose Shi De, and decide to want to stay with him forever. Not Shi De’s for him, not Dad’s.

-          Stupid Gao Shi De. And that affectionate slap on his head. Because they will always be physical like that.

-          And there it is, the bracelet that was never gone, and what follows is a renewed wedding vows scene if I ever saw one, is humility and forgiveness and renewed promises on an equal footing. I think that scene deserves way more words, but I might put that in fic or another meta, this is getting ridiculously long. But I think the feels in this one are quite clear. But let me say this:

This episode poses the question who is the lucky one. Also, related to that, who is Mr. Second, and who is No 1? Is it who we thought it was? Or was it reversed, was Shi De the lucky one after all? OR was it the two of them from the start, two lucky ones, two fools for love? And finally: a sense of growth, away from the hierarchy and the illusion of No 1s and Mr. Seconds, of winners and losers in relationships:

You can be equal only through honesty and vulnerability and shared responsibility.

 -          Please let me know what you think the statue, the rabbit and the crystal ball symbolizes, knowing the show it might symbolize something, but I am lost here, lol. Is it a chinese character thing? Soundsalikes? Three syllables? Am i interpreting too much into it?

-          I actually will skip some scenes now, because I just want to mention the ones that tie into the topics I started on above, communication and bridges, because else this will break all limits lengthwise.

-          The scene where Bing Wei tells Shi De of the magnitude and depths of Shu Yi’s love. Once again solidifying, that it has always been Shi De’s love’s equal, devotion wise.That Shi De is the freaking lucky one, too.

-          The matter of the phone as the symbol. Shu Yi crying alone with the phone, the broken symbol of the broken communication between them, and then Dad taking that out of his hands.

-          How it ties into when they both realize at the same time, Dad’s involvement and interruption of their communication might have even started earlier, with blocking the emails from the start when they were apart. You lose sympathies in this ep again, dad, lol.

-          The scene on the bridge. BRIDGE. Yeah, besides that it has history for them, look what they do in that scene. They reconnect further, mend bridges, by their shared history in highlights, but also by levelling the ground between them, each admitting and being told that they both have been idiots in this for their own parts, laughing about it even with tears in their eyes. Teasing each other with it, but pulling each other closer over it, the teasing, careful, long unused steps around each other, but on a bridge between them that they revisit, that has been mended, that is secure again under their feet.

It’s the ground they can stand on, the ground they can and WILL use to talk about all that stuff, the bridge between them, their equal love.

-          Also, Shu Yi is eating in that scene, happily.

-          Oh man, I will end it here, because there’s just too much to say, and I will, in fic and more meta, let me know what you wanna talk about if you made it this far.

[kjack89]

AITA

My bestie’s latest quarantine hobby is trolling through AITA on reddit and sending me ones she thinks will make me mad, so. I got inspired.

E/R, modern AU.

The sun was bright and the mood, all things considered, was high, as the crowd gathered by the river in preparation for the march downtown to call for defunding the police. Black Lives Matter was leading the protest, and Enjolras had volunteered Les Amis to serve as support and allies in whatever way they could, which mostly meant making sure folks were wearing masks and that no one decided to try something stupid with the cops.

“Good crowd,” Courfeyrac remarked, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet as he glanced around before looking back at Enjolras. “As much as I’m sure it’s killing you that they’re only calling for defunding and not abolition.”

“Yeah, well, not even a year ago, no one was talking about defunding the police,” Enjolras pointed out, a little sourly, adjusting his mask, which was emblazoned with WHITE SILENCE IS VIOLENCE. “I’ll take what progress I can get.”

Courfeyrac smirked. “You sound practically moderate.”

Enjolras scowled. “Take that back, or—”

His threat was cut off by the arrival of Joly, Bossuet and Grantaire. It was hard to tell by the masks all three wore, but Enjolras was pretty sure that all three were grinning, and judging by the way Bossuet was swaying, just slightly, it wasn’t just because they were in a good mood.

“I’ll take it you three decided to hit up a brunch spot on your way here?” Enjolras asked, even more sourly than before.

“A man has to eat,” Joly said innocently, which would have gone over much more believably had he not giggled at the end.

“Besides, we only ordered one drink,” Bossuet assured him.

Enjolras pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let me guess,” he said dryly, “you each ordered a bottomless mimosa.” He didn’t wait for any of them to confirm it. “And how many refills of said drink did you also order?”

Joly and Bossuet looked at each other and laughed, and Grantaire pulled his mask down to grin lazily at Enjolras. “Let me put it this way,” he said, “more than one and less than ten.” He paused. “Probably. I did lose track after about seven.”

Snickering, Joly and Bossuet headed over to join the rest of Les Amis, but when Grantaire made to follow, Enjolras blocked him, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “You’re drunk,” he said accusingly, and Grantaire’s grinned widened.

“Well, I’m sure as shit not sober.”

“Put your mask back on,” Enjolras ordered, less concerned for himself, as Grantaire was part of his quarantine bubble, and more for everyone else milling around before the march started. Especially any journalists who might love to get a shot of BLM protesters breaking the mask mandate. “And go home, Grantaire.”

Grantaire slowly pulled his mask back up over his mouth and nose, smoothing it into place before looking at Enjolras plaintively, all trace of humor vanishing from his expression. “Let me stay here,” he said, his voice soft, and not just from the cotton that covered his mouth.

Enjolras shook his head, well aware that even if Grantaire might suddenly sound sober, he wasn’t. “Go home,” he repeated. “The last thing we need is your drunk ass picking a fight with the cops or something worse and turning this whole thing into a riot instead of the peaceful protest its organizers intended.”

“What, you think I’m incapable of going two or three hours without starting a brawl?” Grantaire asked, incredulous.

Enjolras arched an eyebrow. “I think you’re incapable of a great many things.”

Grantaire’s lip curled. “Like believing, thinking, willing, living and dying?”

“Only you seem to think you’re incapable of dying,” Enjolras said quietly, before repeating, one more time, “Go home.”

But Grantaire shook his head, taking a step toward him. “If you’re so worried about it, then send Bahorel home, too!” he insisted. “Send home Joly and Bossuet who are just as drunk as I am. Or else let me stay.”

“No.”

Enjolras said the word calmly, but Grantaire recoiled as if he had shorted. “And why not?”

“Because I trust them!” Enjolras burst, his temper getting the better of him, and he scrubbed a hand across his face before adding, what he hoped was a calmer way, “I trust them to actually listen to my instructions and keep themselves out of trouble.”

But something in Grantaire’s face clouded as soon as Enjolras had said that he trusted them, and Enjolras had a bad feeling that he hadn’t really listened to the last part. “Right,” Grantaire said, a little dully, already turning away. “Well. I’ll see you later, I guess.”

“Grantaire,” Enjolras sighed, reaching out to catch his arm, but Grantaire shrugged him off, wandering towards the river, the hunch of his shoulders the only indication that he had any care in the world. Enjolras stared after him for a long moment, his expression troubled.

----------

Four days later, Grantaire rolled over in bed when his phone buzzed. He picked it up off his nightstand, saw that it was a text from Enjolras, and immediately tossed it down again, groaning.

He hadn’t talked to Enjolras since that morning of the BLM protest, and at this rate, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to. Not when he knew that Enjolras didn’t trust him.

Joly would tell him he was being dramatic, and Bossuet would tell him to just text Enjolras and apologize and move on, and since Grantaire wanted to hear neither of those things, he also wasn’t talking to Joly or Bossuet.

Instead, he rolled over onto his stomach, grabbing his phone and stubbornly ignoring the text message from Enjolras still sitting, unread, in his messages. Instead, he clicked on twitter, figuring if he was going to sulk, he might as well sulk while reading about someone else’s misery.

A half hour later, Grantaire had scrolled through what felt like half of twitter before he stumbled upon a random tweet that linked to an ‘Am I the Asshole?’ post on the subreddit of the same name, and he glanced at the clock before deciding he had enough time to waste a couple of hours on a whole new level of misery.

He might’ve kept scrolling for hours, when he stumbled upon an AITA post that was surprisingly familiar.

Suspiciously familiar.

Like he had lived it.

He hesitated for only a moment before clicking on the post.

Posted by u/RadianceoftheFuture 8 hours ago AITA for kicking my friend out of a protest?

So I (25M) was attending a BLM protest the other day with the social justice organization I run. One of my friends, who we’ll call ‘R” (28M), showed up drunk and, IMO, looking to start a fight. This was the last thing I wanted, since we were there to be good allies, and starting fights or inciting a riot as white folks who will get away with it ain’t it. So naturally, I told him to go home.

Now here’s where I may be the asshole. R started arguing with me, and pointed out that some our other friends who were also there were also drunk, and one of our other friends who was there has a history of starting fights, so he asked me why I wasn’t making them leave. I told him it was because I trusted them.

Which is true, but not exactly how I wanted to word it, and I could tell that he was hurt by the implication that I didn’t trust him. And I do trust him, but I also didn’t want to spend the entire time worried about him. Anyway, he left, and he hasn’t talked to me since. If I’m the asshole, I want to apologize so that we can go back to being friends, and even if I wasn’t, I still want to figure out a way for us to talk again. I miss him. So tell me, AITA?

Grantaire stared at his phone, torn between something warm spreading in his chest at the fact that Enjolras cared enough to ask anonymous strangers on the internet about this, and freaking out because Enjolras had posted about their disagreement on the internet.

The man had only two speeds, it seemed, and somehow, Grantaire always ended up dealing with Enjolras on the highest speed.

Numbly, and mostly in an attempt to gather his thoughts, Grantaire scrolled through the comments on the post, unsurprised to see a decent mix of judgements from the redditors. More than expected YTAs (you’re the asshole), plus a number of NTAs (not the asshole), and, predominantly, a smattering of NAH (no assholes here).

Halfway down the page, he paused, realizing that the person who had written the post had responded to a question.

u/oldcoats_oldfriends - 7 hours ago INFO: why do you trust your other friends and not R?

u/RadianceoftheFuture - 6 hours ago Because R has a history of getting himself in trouble, whether by running his mouth off when he shouldn’t or picking fights with guys twice his side, and the trouble he gets into tends to happen after he’s been drinking. So when you put the two together, I was worried he’d do something stupid and get himself locked up or worse. And since keeping an eye on the rest of the protest was important, I knew I couldn’t afford to be distracted by also keeping an eye on him.

And for the record, I trust R with a lot. He’s not as ideological as a lot of us, doesn’t even have a lot of the same beliefs, but I know he would never do anything to hurt the cause, or me. Of course, he might not HELP the Cause, or me, but still. I’ve never once doubted that R would take a bullet for me, if it came to that. I would just never in a million years want him to.

Grantaire swallowed, hard. Of course he would take a bullet for Enjolras, or more, but it had never occurred to him that knowing that might make Enjolras worried. Worried that Grantaire would do something stupid.

If only the man knew that Grantaire worried about Enjolras in exactly the same way.

Hesitating for only a moment, he decided to leave a comment of his own.

u/MyFullGlass1832 - 1 minute ago NAH. Sure your friend shouldn’t have been drunk and you were right to kick him out, but drinking doesn’t make him an asshole (though not talking to you might). I am curious why you would have been worried about him. He’s a grown man and not your responsibility.

He quickly closed out of reddit, not wanting to do something stupid and refresh until Enjolras responded, but he only half-paid attention to the tweets he scrolled past, glancing at the clock to see if it was still pathetic for him to check for a response.

But to his shock, when he finally gave in and checked forty-five minutes later, Enjolras had answered, and something in Grantaire’s stomach twisted to know that he was still checking the thread, still seeking a resolution.

u/RadianceoftheFuture - 39 minutes ago Maybe ‘worried about’ is the wrong term, but he’s my friend. I didn’t want him to get hurt, or worse, because he was drunk. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s gotten hurt on my watch, and everytime it happens, it’s awful. And not just because he won’t shut up about it for the next six months - I always feel so guilty, like I should’ve been protecting him. I know that’s not realistic, so the very least I can do is send him home when I think he’s liable to hurt himself. That way I can sleep at night knowing I did what I could.

The breath caught in Grantaire’s throat, and his chest felt tight, especially as he read the follow up comments.

u/valiant.artisan - 34 minutes ago INFO: Are you and R gay?

u/tremble_b4apoppy - 26 minutes ago Dude you may be in love with R.

u/timidinrepose - 21 minutes ago OMG this is the sweetest thing I’ve read all day.

u/Lymantria_dispar - 12 minutes ago. Pretty sure this might go a little beyond just friendship. Either way, I’m glad you care about your friend, and even though you weren’t TA, you should call him and explain why you told him to go home. 

Grantaire couldn’t seem to stop his stupid smile as he stared at the computer, and this time, he didn’t hesitate, opening his text chain with Enjolras without reading any of Enjolras’s previous texts. He didn’t need to read them know.

NTA.

He sent the text and held his breath, wondering if Enjolras would acknowledge it, immediately, or try to play it cool. His one word answer indicate the former: Sorry?

But Grantaire wasn’t nearly as willing to play it coy. Not anymore. Your AITA post. I’m giving you my judgment. NTA.

In his mind, he could see Enjolras blush, that same way he did when he was frustrated, two spots of color rising high in his cheek as he stared at Grantaire. You saw that?

Even in his mind, it was a beautiful sight. Yeah

Then you should know, I agree with the majority opinion.

The image of Enjolras blushing disappeared, leaving Grantaire blinking at his phone, his brow furrowed as he tried to think of what the majority option would have been. Oh?

NAH.

Grantaire grinned, but before he could respond, Enjolras texted, Want to come over? I think I owe you an explanation in person.

I thought you’d never ask.

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u/ RadianceoftheFuture - 45 minutes ago UPDATE: AITA for kicking my friend out of a protest?

(Original.)

Thank you all very much for your feedback in the original post. There were a variety of perspectives on this, but some of the comments on the original post made me realize that I may in fact feel something more than friendship towards R, and it’s a good thing I figured it out, because he found the post, and even commented on it without me knowing! Anyway, we talked, I explained how I felt, and it turns out R’s had a thing for me pretty much since he’s known me. Anyway, we’re dating now, and while this isn’t exactly going to solve my problem of worrying about him, I also think he’ll be on somewhat better behavior now. For my sake at least.

We still have a lot to work on together, but we’re moving in the right direction. And to think, I probably never would’ve figured it out if it weren’t for reddit, of all the websites. 

u/MyFullGlass1832 - 3 minutes ago WIBTA for hijacking my boyfriend’s reddit post to tell him that I love him?

u/ RadianceoftheFuture - 2 minutes ago YTA for sitting literally two feet away from me and responding to a reddit post when we could be doing something far more exciting.

u/MyFullGlass1832 - 1 minute ago ...good point.