#trying to make this into bite sized chunks lol

[covenantscribe]

Prejudgement: Jacob Anderson – Face of 'Woke' & 'Unnecessary'

Summary and disclosure:

This will be a series formatted post on the topic of Interview with the Vampire AMC and the reactions of Fandom before the airing of Season One. Following the conversations around the choices of casting and concentrating on the issues on some public takes.

This post will be used for reference in future posts on this blog. This post discusses racism. This post contains mature language.

Part One | Understanding: Permission, Author & Fandom

As a person who has been passively taking in fanwork for the majority of my life and not knowing it, I could not understand how it feels to be part of an hyper-active fandom. Nor did I understand how one feels to be in it.

The fandoms I have been a part of that I can compare to Interview with the Vampire is: Hannibal (HBO), Teen Wolf and Shadow Hunters.

By the time I came into the fandom it was already "dead" – meaning that the show had aired and 'finished' airing and not much discourse was around it. So what did I do to be considered part of this fandom and passively interacting?

Well I created pins, created Moodboards and watched some edits on YouTube and TikTok (when it became famous during 2020). And for a few of the fandoms I read Fanfics. Completed ones mainly mind you.

So imagine how unprepared I was going into Interview with the vampire fandom. Of course there was excitement. I was going to be one of those people that would see a Tumblr post on Pinterest and be able to say:

Who wouldn't be excited? I was there when Cord of Communion by weathermood was written which is crazy to say now that I think about. One of the most loved and well known Interview with the vampire Fics. I was there when the Helen of Troy meme started. It was absolutely insane. I felt like someone who had invested in Bitcoin and feeding off its success.

But I was not part of the fandom who came from the original text. And I - as someone who held themselves in high regard to come from those who read the books before the movies came into existence - put them in high regard.

This did not last as I realised that those who I put on high regard did not in fact want me - a black person - in the fandom. Or at least that is how I felt. Just as I felt when Ariel was casted black. I was quickly losing interest in the fandom I so desperately wanted to be in.

Let's start from the beginning:

On May 13, 2020 AMC announced that it entered an agreement to acquire Anne Rice's major literary works. It further continued to state in the article that Anne Rice herself was excited for her works to be represented so wholly and that she was more than satisfied with the deal. Anne Rice's son was also announced to be supportive and working alongside Rolin Jones.

It's acknowledged how big the franchise is with a large number of fans behind the works. This is said, paraphrased obviously, by Rolin Jones himself.

And I mean the guy is right. Damn is he right. Anne Rice works, especially The Vampire Chronicles in my experience, has a huge fan base. The Vampire Chronicles has, to this current date I'm writing in have over 3000 works on AO3. Has a different forum of Reddit from just the authors name to the works themselves.

And let's not forget those on Tumblr from tags to people dedicated to the series and the author.

Rolin Jones was making an adaptation of Anne Rice's works. Had permission to do so. Now before we go on let's look at the definition of Adaptation:

a film, book, play, etc. that has been made from another film, book, play, etc.: From Cambridge Dictionary.

A more descriptive meaning:

I am a firm believer that this would have changed and avoided many harmful idealogies and actions in the fandom. But I digress.

A fandom is described as to a community of people who are passionate about something, whether it’s a film, a band, a television show, a book, or a sports team. (x)

A fandom is important because it provides opportunities to connect with other like-minded individuals. It also serves a purpose of allowing easy discovery from an interest into another range of interest. More importantly: Fandom can shape and influence decisions of the media and how they interact with the show. Along with the creative decision of the creator.

The fandom of Interview with the vampire was already established from The Vampire Chronicles. People had a predispositioned idea on what to expect. The fandom in this time were, to no surprise, predominantly white fans. Not to say that no POC existed within this fandom that they were not the majority.

At the time of the announcement it did not make many waves to the unsuspecting people in the outside world. But the Fandom took note of this. [Obviously] Conversations and interviews were watched and re-watched of Anne Rice throughout the years and comments were made. This was about 4 to 3 years ago.

The casting was not released. No one really knew what was planned for these shows and when they would be aired. At this time I was still in my Hannibal obsession and the only thing about Interview with the vampire was from a meme with a white man saying: Not gay enough. On my Pinterest board.

So I cannot speak about my experience during this time in the fandom [though I do encourage people who were around this time to share your experiences with me if you want I'm curious how it was for different people] but the general consensus was trepidation and excitement.

I can understand this because not only did the fandom go around feeling like drug dealers in threat of getting busted by the police when writing and publishing Fanfic at the time but also Fanart and even Comics were made because of the love these people had for The Vampire Chronicles.

The fandom had an already made up idea on what this would mean for them. One of these ideas was definitely NOT a Black, Creole, 4b haired and green eyed vampire. Almost completely different from white, raven-chin length hair and green eyed Louis. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

At this time I can only imagine how the fandom was feeling about the adaptation because as much I can do further research and deep dive into digital foot print I do not have that kind of time in my hands at this point in my life.

Anne Rice works, I will say again, were celebrated and she was held in high regard by supernatural-loving fans. She was – and still – seen as the Mother of Modern Vampires and the depiction in media. She has influenced many well known and famous Vampire media such as Twilight and True Blood.

So I'm left with only imagining how it somewhat felt like for people looking forward to Disney live actions and the Teen Wolf movie. [The fandom was large in size but apparently not large enough to be a few hours of Google search away to be able to find out about the discourse around this point in time.]

But AMC worked fast (kudos to them honestly) and the next year around August of 2021. They came out with the main casting and...

Jacob Anderson was announced as our [cherished and loved] Louis du Lac of today.

This made waves in the fandom and lit the seat of the loyal fans to write about the current happenings in their fandom to all media platforms. Tumblr, Reddit, YouTube, Twitter X, etc.

As much as there were hesitant joy over it and encouragement over the happenings there was also...a lot of upset over the fans.

Shortly after this announcement Anne Rice died in December of 2021 [RIP🕊️]. She and her son had been working closely on the adaptation with Rolin Jones. Anne was survived by her son who stayed in the process of the production. This will ultimately be both significant and insignificant in the grand scheme of things regarding the fandom's reaction to everything before the airing of the Pilot episode of Interview with the Vampire AMC.

At this time I was also still absent from the fandom. Or rather I should say I was being introduced to the Pilot episode through one fated AMC TikTok promotion edit.

I was not online as much and thus wasn't affected as much during that time. Unknowing of the discourse around the Casting and the upcoming trailers brewing. I simply just saved the TikTok in my favourites and promised to watch it for later.

Though I can understand and sympathise at a certain point with the upset over the casting choices because as a book reader I can understand we do kinda gatekeep shit. But only up to a certain point because I get over it fast.

I understand what an adaptation is and what it means. It will mostly never mean a direct copy and paste of the book.

The cards had been shuffled and handed out and the game was about to begin. Word got around and before the airing of the Pilot episode of what would be the one of the most influencial piece of media to me, the people's feelings were simmering and were ready to burst.

How the audience reacted would forever determine what the Fandom looks now and how people interpret the characters. Unfortunately, in the long run, this transformation was not positive. But some, to this day would disagree.

Part Two | Reactions: Anger, Joy & Racism → Coming Soon

Part [1/?]

[tiny-minecraft-rabbit]

You said evil Jimmy, bad boys, and only nice to Tango and my mind went crazy lol. And of course I had to make it Gt. So, what if, the bad boys run this underground black market thing where they capture and sell borrowers. But each bad boy has a borrower they keep with them. And Tango is Jimmy’s but he doesn’t know how to feel because Jimmy is genuinely nice to him and treats him like a person. But with every other borrower, Jimmy treats them the exact opposite.

They pulled into the drive-thru of the McDonald’s and Jimmy tilted his head down to glance at Tango, flicking his sunglasses up, “You want your usual, Rancher? Chicken nuggets with nether sauce?”

Tango grinned, his tail flicking “Yes, sir, Rancher buddy!”

Jimmy nodded and turned down the music as they reached the ordering screen. He ordered three Mcdouble combos, a twenty piece chicken nugget with ranch, barbeque and nether sauce.

On the way home Jimmy tapped the steering wheel along with the music and when one of Tango’s favorites came on he turned it up and they both sang along rather poorly. Tango loved these moments alone with Jimmy—it felt like an honest friendship.

And then they pulled into the driveway of the “Bad Boy Mansion”.

It was a small rancher home with two bedrooms the size of closets and the attic they diy-ed to be a third. Tango had lived in it’s walls for years, going through a few families before Jimmy, Grian, and Joel moved in. He was lucky to still be able to call the house home.

Joel’s voice pitched from the porch, just as irritated as he usually was, “What took you so long?”

“The line went around the building, ain’t nothing I could do!” Jimmy shouted back as he gathered the fast food and drinks into his arms. Then he looked down at Tango and at his full arms and sighed, “Shoot. Tango, climb up, would you?”

Tango bit the inside of his cheek to keep from whining as he climbed out of the cupholder and onto Jimmy’s lowered sleeve. From there he hoisted himself up to Jimmy’s shoulder and held onto the collar. Jimmy kicked the car door closed and headed for the house.

Tango looked towards the house to see Joel stood on the porch, eyes narrowed in their direction. “Would you stop letting him do that?”—he jabbed a finger in Tango’s direction—“Someone’s going to see him one of these days.”

“You’re just jealous because Etho would rather fling himself to the floor than ride your shoulder,” Jimmy replied, holding out the drink carrier for him to take, “Now help out, would you?”

Joel reluctantly took the drinks, if only to make sure Jimmy didn’t drop them. Inside the house they dropped the food on the kitchen table and started unpacking the bags.

Grian joined them, looking through the food, “Did you get your borrower an entire twenty piece chicken nugget?”

“No! The chicken nuggets are for all the borrowers,” Jimmy snapped. He scooped Tango off his shoulder and set him on the table.

Tango stumbled on his feet and backed up a few steps to give the humans plenty of room to unpack and set up their meals. Jimmy grabbed a single chicken nugget, cut it into chunks with a plastic knife and set it on a napkin with the opened nether sauce in front of Tango.

“We got a couple now, thought I’d get them some too,” Jimmy continued, setting the rest of the nuggets aside. “Also we ran out of bread.”

“You spoil them,” Grian teased, elbowing Jimmy.

“You spoil Tango,” Joel added, dropping down into a chair, “I mean no wonder he doesn’t try and run like ours. Jimmy’s gone and cut his food for him too, like he’s the blooming prince of fairies.”

Tango bit his tongue, knowing that if he said anything at all it would mean trouble.

“You think if I do that for Effo he’ll actually stop making escape attempts?” Joel asked.

Grian snorted, “Definitely not. Etho’s practically feral. Never seen a borrower throw themselves off a dresser until him.”

“I’m going to sell him,” Joel declared, taking a giant bite into his burger. Tango froze, not daring to look up at Joel.

“You don’t mean that,” Jimmy said.

“I do!” he replied around a full mouth, “His cool factor has worn off. Someone would pay loads for an albino borrower, I bet. I would have.”

Tango felt his heart drop into his stomach, nausea hitting him like a train. Joel wouldn’t– He couldn’t. Etho was Tango's friend. Etho was one of the last things he had connecting him to being a borrower. The next time he spoke to Etho he was going to have to beg him to start listening to Joel, as much as it killed them both, he couldn’t lose another friend.

“Well, you got a big pool to pick from right now if you want to switch him out for another,” Grian said, shrugging and picking at his own fries.

(That is, if Tango even had a chance to talk to him again at all.)

The Bad Boys finished their meals, Tango barely picking at his nugget, appetite long lost.

Jimmy was the one to gather the trash and shove it down into the trash can. He grabbed up the remaining chicken nuggets (Joel and Grian had nabbed a few themselves) and held out a hand for Tango, “Coming bud?”

Tango hesitated– he really didn’t want to, but staying in the kitchen meant Grian and Joel could get grabby. They wouldn’t hurt him, sure, but they made it abundantly clear they thought Jimmy was too soft with him. He’s been poked and prodded plenty of times between the two of them, tossed in the air more then once, and Joel once tried to hide him from Jimmy by shoving him in his own sock drawer. He didn’t want a repeat of any of that if he could manage it.

He stepped onto Jimmy’s hand and was promptly slipped into his jean-jacket pocket. He sat, grabbing a bit of pocket lint and pulling it apart bit by bit, unable to keep his hands still for the short ride.

Tango swayed and bounced as Jimmy turned out of the house, and he recognized the familiar creaking of the screen door and it slamming itself shut. His feet crunched in the unkempt backyard and Tango’s tail flicked as he heard the shed door open. He hated this fucking shed.

Jimmy’s hand reached for him, fingers wrapping around his middle. His stomach swooped as he was lifted and set down once again. Jimmy was already tearing the chicken nuggets into pieces as he steadied himself, humming a song that had gotten stuck in his head from the ride home and barely acknowledging the big fat elephant that sat in front of him.

The tank of borrowers.

It was set on a shelf, the wire top clamped down several times over. A heat lamp hung over it and one of those plastic hamster hides was pushed into a corner. It was lined with a towel that hadn’t been washed since it was set and the dirt stains from many little shoes were prominent. There were only two borrowers in sight, but Tango knew for a fact there were six in the tank. The Bad Boys’ latest haul. They got lucky catching the group crossing between backyards (and the Bad Boys weren’t above trespassing to get their hands on more borrowers. No one would notice a few mouse sized people missing).

Tango had been set down on the shelf, right next to the tank. One of the borrowers was staring at him and he gave a small wave— the stare immediately dropped into a glare and the borrower turned swiftly away from his direction. Tango’s tail tucked itself between his legs.

“Alright fellas,” Jimmy chirped, undoing the clamps and pushing the tank open with a clang. He set the box of torn up chicken inside, along with two open sauce packets, “Got some food for ya’s.”

“How long do you plan to keep us here?”

Tango’s head snapped back to the borrower. He was practically a half inch taller then Tango was, muscular and what looked to be old chemical burn scars all up his arm and over his face. Tango had seen some of the things he was carrying before Grian had tore them off his person and he had some pretty advanced borrower tech. He hasn’t heard a name from him yet and a part of him hopes he won’t.

Jimmy barely blinked at the question, already fitting the top back on, “Oh, just until we can secure a buyer, not long for some of your friends but you… Well, hard to find someone that wants pre-damaged goods.”

Tango hated the shed. Jimmy was different in here. Jimmy was cruel in here.

(Tango knew it wasn’t just the shed, as much as he wanted to pretend it was. He knew that Jimmy would and did act just the same to any borrower no matter where he was. He knew this was as much the real Jimmy as the one that sang songs and taught him how to read more than a few simple sentences and let him play with loose circuits boards. He was just always this Jimmy in the shed, and the shed had become his association with the worst of him.)

“You plan to turn us into pets?” The borrower growled. His voice was gruff, with some kind of thick accent. He wondered where he could have gotten it, or if he was somehow foreign—Most likely he grew up in a house with a bean with an accent, but it wasn’t impossible for borrowers to travel to other countries. That was dangerous, sure, but the guy looks like he’s gone through his fair share of danger.

“Uh, yeah,” Jimmy replied, a smirk creeping over his lips, “People pay a lot for a pet that can talk. Isn’t that nice? Usually something as insignificant as you would be considered a proper pest.”

“You’re not making a dime from us. We’ll get out. You don’t scare me,” The borrower said, his tail thrashing behind him.

“You’re able to escape this? Wow! Color me impressed!” Jimmy punctuated his statement by snapping the clamps back in place. Then he casually grabbed a brick off the ground and dropped it right on top of the lid. “Man, when we come back and you’ll be gone–? Just, know, I’ll be making this face–” He clapped his hands to his face, jaw dropped exaggeratedly.

“Fuck you, man! Fuck you!” The borrower shouted, kicking at the glass of the tank.

Jimmy laughed, retaliating by knocking repeatedly on the tank until one of the other borrowers, still tucked away in the hide, poked their head out to beg for him to stop. He did, grinning brightly, “Enjoy dinner! Come on, Tango.”

Tango was quick to scramble onto the hand that was offered to him, his tail wrapping around Jimmy’s pinkie.

“Ay, Tango, was it?” The borrower called. He flinched away from the angry tone but glanced back, giving the borrower his attention. The borrower was sneering, lips curled, “Fuck you too, traitor! You let this bean turn you into a pet. You’re no better than a hamster–”

Jimmy beat his fist into the glass, “Shut it! Tango is my friend. You’re not going to speak to him that way.”

He pulled Tango to his chest, cupping him close and stomping right out and back to the house. The screen door once again slammed as he pushed his way inside, not bothering to stop in the living room where Grian and Joel were watching some trash show and throwing snacks at each other.

They were up the ladder into the low ceiling attic and he dropped himself onto his bed. Tango bounced on his chest, hands grabbing at Jimmy’s shirt to ground himself.

“Sorry about that,” Jimmy sighed, his hand pressing against his back, “That guy was way out of line.”

Tango sighed, “It’s… fine, Jimmy. He was just mad.”

“More like he’s got an attitude problem,” Jimmy grumbled, and his hand shifted so his thumb was rubbing up and down Tango’s back. The action calmed them both, each taking slow breaths, “You’re not my pet, Tango. You’re my Rancher buddy, always will be. Don’t let them get in your head. You’re better than that lot.”

“Right,” Tango replied, “Thanks, Rancher.”

“It’s no problem,” Jimmy chuckled. He pulled his phone out, opening up Youtube and scrolling through until he found a Minecraft video, “This look good, bud?”

Tango turned to look, laying back on Jimmy’s chest, “Yeah. I like this guy.”

Jimmy pressed play, and Tango tried to push his thoughts to the back of his mind.

Don’t think about the shed. Don’t think about the borrowers. Focus on the video. Focus on the sound of the non-copyright music and Jimmy’s breath. Focus on the rising and lowering chest under him. Focus on this moment, and try to forget about the rest of it.

Tango wasn’t very good at controlling his thoughts. The video played and Tango’s head was elsewhere.

[punktactical]

CANNIBAL , bartolomeo

★

summary ; your lovely boyfriend, barto, is hungry! luckily for him, his amazing girlfriend (you) have just the right thing to fill him up!

warnings ; 18+ content , dark content , gore / blood , consensual cannibalism , slight dacryphilia , eating out , jersey accent barto (LOL)

a/n ; again . . . taken from my one-shot collection ! also , i'm taking requests now. i might be a bit slow , but i'll try my best !

★

★

"such cute thighs ya got..."

the green haired man between her thighs cooed. his lips kissed up them, licking them occasionally. her hands gripped the sheets, soft breaths slipping from her mouth.

"so sensitive . . ." his teeth nibbled on her thigh, dangerously close to her crotch. her hands wound up in his green locks, tugging at them gently. his mouth opened, almost like a snake. a large bite was formed into her thigh, his teeth sinking into them. she gasps, now pulling harshly on his hair. blood begins to trickle down her thighs, staining the pale, white sheets. his teeth dug deeper, flesh ripping apart, her leg now growing sore. "bartooo . . ." she whined his name, directing his mouth to her dripping cunt. her bottom lip quivered, tears brimming in her eyes. "mmm . . ." his tongue lapped at the blood, licking all the way to her entrance. her eyes fluttered shut, huffing in pleasure.

"i'm still hungry."

he bit back into her thigh, making her scream in surprise. he tugged at the flesh, ripping it off the bone. she bit her lip, holding back a moan. the pain was severe but she couldn't help but be aroused by it. blood gushed out, a small pool of it gathering underneath her. she felt disgusted with herself. tears spilled from her eyes, running down her cheeks. "aw. . . don't cry." he grabbed her hand, guiding it down to his crotch. she felt the bulge, rubbing it. bartolomeo groaned, smacking her hand away. "since ya fed me, i'll make sure to take real good care of ya, sweet thing."

he dove into her pussy, licking wildly. what a wonders a tongue like that could do. she laid her head back, whimpering in pleasure, tears still running. he continued to eat her out, tongue striding up her folds perfectly. she spoke behind her teeth, biting down. her body stiffened, feeling her climax. her mouth opened, but nothing came out. 

"ya taste betta than ya look, girly."

she pouted, looking up at him through wet lashes. "kidding, of course. you're hot as fuck!" the cannibal licked her juices up, relishing in her facial expression. the blood mixed with her cum, creating a sweet taste that barto couldn't get enough of. "such a sweet girl. now, you can help me out, can't ya?" his pants fell to the ground, his cock standing in all its glory. her eyes widened, gulping, looking at the size of it. "it's . . . way bigger than it felt." he chuckled, rubbing the missing chunk of her thigh. blood coated his slender fingers, making him grin.

"you can handle it, i know ya can."

a different kind of meat would be replacing the missing one.

★

[tellywoodtrash]

my golden blood aka th(w)ailight ep 3 lb

*absolutely dead eyes* "are you sure you want to live with me?"

joss my man, i am begging you for more than half an expression.

tong's like yeah i'll live with you, these freaks out here wildin for my blood.

tongkla doesn't even get the courtesy of a face to face convo about moving out??? he came home to find a cross made of chopsticks and the room littered with chunks of garlic bread ffs

mark is still absolutely fuckin dead in the face watching tong spiral into an emotional breakdown

lmaoooooooooooo ofc this freak lives in phayu's/hia win's house.

"there's nothing strange in there, right?" well…. there's staircase of death that you might break your neck on.

DADDY COUCH YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS!!!!!!!!!!

aksjldfdslkjlsd the vampire speed vfx will never fail to make me laugh

time to spook the baby girl with some mumbo jumbo

"the tribute room" aka a perfectly normalass, if weirdly decorated, bedroom.

tong stands for vampire labour rights!!!!!

um what is that suspicious looking lump in the bed????

also just one bed!!!!!!!!!! vampires like the same tropes as us!!!!!!

what a sad life. food and sleep are literally the two best things granted to living beings and mark gets to enjoy neither.

flirt flirt flirt. also *widens eyes randomly* doesn't really count as giving an expression joss. we're still at 0 for this episode.

TEAR OR SWEAT?!?!?! WHICH ONE WAS IT?????

there he goes, sniffing him like a damn weirdo again.

tong said gtfo, creep.

SOMEONE PLS EXPLAIN THE LUMP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BED????!!?!?!

MARK YOU'VE GOT TO LEARN TO FUCKEN KNOCK, BUDDY. ALSO IDK, WEAR JINGLY ANKLETS OR SOMETHING.

ok the arm banter was cute

good on tong for establishing boundaries (though mark didn't really agree to honour them)

is this a nightmare or a sex dream lol? seems like both.

adkljldfskjlks not the creepy painting watching him too.

here too, joss has his smell the fart expression on.

DSJFHDSKJFHDSKJFHKDSJSJFH

tong truly felt:

iykyk

lmaoooooooooo idk why beefcake mark dressed in all white with that teeny tiny book is sending me. it's giving gaston.

meanwhile tong's having nightmares of ma and pa being treated as juice boxes

which somehow mark can sense?

so ofc he divines himself to tong's bedside but i'm only looking at the fact that he's in grey sweatpants 👀👀👀

does he have nightmare-go-away super powers too?

ASDJLKLSAJDLSAKDJASLJK HIS FACE ON SEEING THE POST IT TONG PUT ON HIS PAINTING

i've finally realized that the lump in the bed is a bolster pillow.

tong wakes up and the first thing he checks for are hickeys fang bites on his neck

asdjlaskjdlaskjdlaskalksjdlk A BUNCH OF COMEDIANS

these damn stairs make my stomach swoop uneasily

well daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, with that kinda breakfast spread, i might be inclined to give mark some sip sip

STILL WITH THE JUICE BOX TOMATO JUICE

"you're not trying to fatten me up to eat later, are you?" pfffffffttttt

ohhhhh aunty wan also lives here, to keep an eye on these two cheeky losers

ofc he doesn't eat. that's how those abs look the way they do.

tong's reallllllllllllllllly selling it, lol

he feeds him a morsel but mark's looking tempted by entirely another snack at the table though

CAN HE TASTE TOO NOW????????? idk how to decipher all these different *eye widening* gestures??

yup mark can def taste food now. goodbye abs!

why is the landscaping of this lawn so weird? what point does this serve?

doesn't tong have university to go to???? he's just a vampire's sugar baby now? (god i wish that was me)

you shouldn't have made the quip about size. now you're gonna get felt up QUITEEEEE thoroughlyyyyyyyy

being immortal and having to work out for all eternity is LITERALLY MY IDEA OF HELLLLLLLLLLL

though maybe if someone taught me weight training like this, i'd be more into it?

lol mark's in troubleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, the scent kink is kicking in hardddddddddddd

poor mark. imagine having to workout next to the most delectable, gooey, Goofy Movie slice of pizza?!!?!?!

lol he's really giving Edward about to puke from Bella's fumes. to the point tong got the hint that he was being a bother and left

in the safety of solitude, he takes tong's towel and grants himself one biggggggggggggggg whiffffffff

AHSADKJASHLDKJALSKDJKLAS WHICH TONG CAME IN AND WITNESSED

tong sniffing at things like a little kitty cat is the cutest shit ever

mark's off to work. coz capitalism is hell and even vampires gotta hustle to survive

tong agrees to waive the one arm distance rule in exchange for getting out of the house

why are y'all drawing so much damn attention???? weirdos.

oh boy thara knows tong's here and wants to meet him too. it's too damn early to meet the in-laws! aunty wan has done enough damage by being weird!!!!!!!!

thara doesn't help by IMMEDIATELY asking tong for his hands. why can't y'all just act normal around this kid? he's getting the worstttttttt impression of vampires by the way you're all behaving

HOW'S HE NOT CREEPED OUT BY ALL THE WEIRDNESS THARA IS SERVING UP INSTEAD OF CHAI PAANI BISKUT. KUCH TOH KHAATIRDAARI KARO BEFORE UNLOADING HIS DESTINY OR WHATEVER

no mark hasn't put him in a HARD PLACE yet iykwim 😏😏😏

tong's just thrilled he's got someone to snitch about mark to

lol @ thara waiting for tong to clear the room before calling him a weakass bitch to mark

she's never gonna let it go that he took a lil sippy sip, is she???

damnnnnnn tong, you don't ask how old a vampire milfffff is

did thara turn mark??

tong seems to miss orphanage aunty, the cutie.

you know who i'm missing???/ NAKAN!!!!!!!!!! AND MY MAN TONGKLA?!!?!?!? I LITERALLY WATCH THIS SHOW FOR THEM AND IT'S BEEN MORE THAN 30 MINUTES WITHOUT?!?! I NEED MY FIX NOWWWWWWWWWWWWW

mark has the same pained expression as me having to tolerate this zabardasti ka guitar scene

he offers to take tong to the orphanage tomorrow so aunty can get this psychic damage face to face just like he had to

funky lil orphanage trip home

tongkla had to come down separately? they couldn't give him a ride? he's right to look suspicious/mad

mark gets roped into the game and ofc has to take his shirt off

lmao at tong sitting on the sidelines watching proudly like a WAG as mark gets climbed on by the kids

heart 2 heart time

wait, how long ago exactly is this, mark???

is this gonna be a Carlisle typa sitch? is dad a vamp????

nopeeeeeee! doctor's earnest prayers brought him sis thara

lmao at thara offering eternal life in the exact words of a MLM insta influencer

commiserating about shared circumstances and mother figures

tong's gonna be real crushed when he finds out orphanage aunty was on vampire payroll (or possibly a vamp herself?)

that cake is so shiny it almost looks fake

ohhhhhhhhhh boy aunty's gonna spill some uncomfortable beans, not knowing tong's hiding right there

OFC SHE KNEW, TONG? LIKE…. WHAT DID YOU THINK ALL THE SPIEL ABOUT NEVER BLEEDING WAS ABOUT IN HINDSIGHT???

idk what he's so shocked and mad about??? what, was she supposed to tell a fuckin 8 year old about vampires??? like come on be so fr rn tong? you live here with like 15 other kids? was she supposed to expose them all to the fact that vampires exist?????

why's he lashing out at tongkla now?!??!?!

tong you are so out of line rn baby girl

how fortuitous that the orphanage is located at this prime real estate spot, with such laaaaaaaarrrrge open grounds where tong can dramatically sulk. surely that has nothing to do with all the vampire funding he's so angry about rn 🙄🙄🙄

tong truly has whatever syndrome those girls had in 2000s romcoms like chasing liberty and first daughter

mark having to explain to tong how money and economics work was not on his to do list for for today. he just wanted to play some basketball and sniff some birthday cake

goddddd, this teenager angst is hard for me to take seriously, especially coz it's being played by a nearly 30 year old man

uhhhhhhhhhhhh, why's he getting memories of dear ol' dad at a moment like this?

bro i'd be so fuckin mad if someone made me a vampire without my consent and then fuckin died on me, leaving me all alone on this hell planet

do you? do you really understand? why's your face not moving to reflect those emotions then???

tong: "i don't want to know any more things." bitch me too. i've known enough.

wait he's really letting tong go? where????? and we're going back to the silently stalking and watching from a distance thing? over THIS of all things????

nooooooooooo don't return the necklaceeeeeeeee!!!!

amazing. even as all the love memories accost him, this is the face.

tongkla is allowed to take one swing at him, methinks

HE BABYGIRLED HIS WAY BACK INTO THE ROOM AND TONGKLA'S HEART

tongkla don't be fuckin stupid, take the vampire money for the tuition

tongkla is ALSO tong's sugar daddy now???

pft look what one (1) day of you working has resulted in, tong

YOU GIVE TONGKLA THE RESPECT HE DESERVES!!!!!!!!

waking up to mark standing at the foot of the bed like that has definitely got to be more terrifying than any nightmare tong had

also i'd have loved it if tongkla was also in the room and had to witness this fuckery hahahahahahaha

this has to be a dream. right????????

CALLED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE HOT FOR FANGSSSSSSSSSS, BRO. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

not this Man towering heads and shoulders over the rest of the kids in this university

"wanna be in my group?" ASLKJFDLKFJDLKFJDLKFJLDKJSF

Next week: Kissies for real?!!?!?!?? 👀👀👀

[iwitch-plus]

Working on myself is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do…

Aaaand I’m still working on how to do it, but here’s 3 small steps I’ve taken that have been the most helpful:

I gave up caffeine.

That’s right. I did it. Well….sort of. I gave up sugary energy drinks, coffee, and things like that. I now only drink tea for caffeine, but I generally find myself not needing caffeine at all anymore.

Making tea makes me feel so much more connected to myself and everything around me. I don’t know if it’s some sort of spiritual placebo or what, but whenever I drink tea I just feel so witchy like I actually did something. I have like a ton of different teas to choose from too so it always feels like I’m doing a very small ritual whenever I have to pick a tea for myself. It’s really nice. Also, it doesn’t make me insanely shaky so thats another plus.

I stopped vaping.

Okaaay so I know everyone and their mom wants you to stop vaping but seriously it helped lmao. I didn’t stop vaping entirely (I work a bartending shift on Fridays so like, sometimes I want the nic’) but overall it helped ease my anxiety and shakiness. I don’t know what clicked in my brain, but suddenly the idea of vaping just turned me off so much that I stopped doing it entirely for a while…and then found myself not needing it. That’s not necessarily advice on how to stop vaping, because that absolutely will not work for everyone but somehow it worked for me!

I bought books on topics I’m interested in.

This is a pretty big one, I feel like the art of just sitting down and reading a book has been lost in the modern age…or maybe it’s just that I’ve lost it lol. But book shopping is definitely on my favorite things to do list, and reading books has become a sort of self-care ritual by itself. Technology overtakes my life, and it’s basically never in a productive way so if I can spend even 20 minutes just reading a couple pages from a book, I feel much more connected to myself. The current one I’m reading is World Mythology in Bite-Sized chunks by Mark Daniels. It’s been pretty interesting so far!

Of course, there are still things I want to do that are bigger or different steps than these.

I want to quit drinking entirely, I want to read tarot more (maybe start by just pulling at least one card for myself daily), I want to hang more things up on my walls at home, I want to always uphold a clean environment, I want to sleep earlier so I can wake up earlier, I want to work on my conversation skills since my job deals with clients and I’d like to keep having clients. There are so many things, day by day that I try to work on and I can only do so much but slowly it’s all coming together. Slowly with those 3 things I listed above, I’m becoming a better me.

[oblivious-troll]

Going to drop by here and say that I absolutely adore your Mermay entry with the Jalim snippet your wrote 🩷🩷

Now I gotta ask how you envisioned their first meeting went like ? How did they cross paths and how did such an unlikely romance between a merman and siren unfold ?

Thank you! I'm glad you like it ♥️ I might have gone a bit overboard with this answer, so bare with me, lol

---

I think they'd meet pretty simular to how they meet in the game, kind of forced to work together to survive and the longer they get to talking the more they tease and flirt until, oops! They're in love!

For different reasons they're both looking for a place to establish as their territory, Salim to settle down and live a peacefully secluded life when his old territory gets too filled with predators, Jason to get out of his old pod he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life with (Sirens are solo creatures once old enough to live on their own, until they mate and then they keep to just two and their young until they also grow up and leave. Merfolk are more pod oriented, usually in groups of 10-20, but solo merfolk aren't unheard of.)

They both come across this old ship wreck in a large cave, the perfect bit of territory to claim as a home. Neither know who got there first, bumping into each other not long after they get there- a short fight ensues but is cut short when a minor earthquake has the cave shaking and the entrance is blocked off when a chunk of rock is shook loose and falls.

The alliance is temporary and unstable at the beginning, both expecting the other to suddenly attack and that when they find another exit the territorial battle will continue. Maybe that was once the plan for both of them, but the environment has a way of interfering.

The cave goes deep, way deeper than either thought, and it's filled with octopus of various sizes, seeming to get bigger and more aggressive as they go down. Too many times are they grabbed by Giant Pacific Octopuses, Salim needing to take the brunt of them because he can withstand their toxic bites better than Jason- not immune like poison, but resistant enough to shrug off a good solid few. Not that Jason lets him take any bites, throwing himself back into the battle whenever a beak gets too close to Salim.

Distracted by the octopuses, it takes a while for them to notice that there's a lot of ship wrecks down here too... way too many with splintered wood suggesting they'd been dragged.

And at the center of it all, in the deepest pit of this hellish cave they've found themselves trapped in, lay a Kraken.

They thank Neptune that it sleeps, carefully maneuvering through the landmine of octopuses, unable to swim too high off the ground without disturbing the Kraken.

It's a mad dash at the end, jumped by an octopus that shreaks as Salim jabs in through with an old bar torn off a ship they'd passed earlier. Not such a stupid accessory after all when Salim had been fighting fine with his teeth, tail and claws up until now.

Jason's relived when they make it out of the Kraken's nest, turning around to laugh his stress and adrenaline off with Salim... but Salim's not there.

He doesn't hesitate a second, diving back into what has to be of the most dangerous place in the sea, swimming as fast as his tail will take him.

Salim’s in trouble, struggling to get multiple octopuses off him, claws chipped from overuse and too many scratches from strong beaks, suction cup cuts and bruises on the scaleless bits of his skin.

Jason’s helping Salim up just in time as a giant tentacle spears into the ground where his head had been, he keeps Salim's hand in his own as he dashes for the crevice too small for a Kraken- he's moving so fast he can't stop when he sees another tentacle of the now awake beast try to strike again, he just braces for impact and hopes Salim will make it.

A shriek louder than anything Jason's heard pierces the air and shakes their surrounds. He looks up to see the tentacle flail back, a distinct metal bar pierced through it. He gives Salim an incredulous look, and Salim's shit eating grin confirms it. The bastard speared it with the bar.

There's no time to think as they flee, hardly time to recuperate either as a bunch of octopuses try and follow them- they're lucky they find an exit on the other side of the vast cave only needing to kill a few more, but they have the advantage in the open and the blood of the octopuses lure out other sea creatures that thankfully aren't interested in either of them, seals the biggest help.

They don't part ways after this, continuing to search for a territory that will be best for both of them instead. And when they finally do, mating is the next step for them :)

[ashisgreedy]

Garreth Weasley x F!MC

“Get A Room!” 

Tags: Fluff but Suggestive | Brand New Relationship | Feeding each other food sensually (lol) | Major PDA | Kissing/Making out/Hickies | H*lding H*nds | Aged up 18+ |

WC: 1,600

They were in the Gryffindor common room. MC and Garreth’s faces were just inches apart as they gazed into each other's eyes, smiling like fools. 

They’d only been dating a week and everyone was already sick of them and their lovey-dovey displays of affection. 

They sat on the couch, MC’s legs in Garreth’s lap while he leaned down to her eye level. His arm was resting on the back of the couch while MC’s back rested on the arm rest, facing him. 

The side table next to them was littered with their favorite sweets ranging from all sorts of desserts and pastries. 

MC held a small plate in her hand with a slice of fudgy chocolate cake.

Garreth grabbed the fork from the table but she snatched it from him. 

"Oh, come on now..." he said playfully, trying to get his fork back from her. "Is that really necessary?"

She held the fork out of reach and pulled it away when he came close. 

“Want a bite?” She winked and Garreth stopped fighting for the utensil. 

“Are you going to feed it to me?” He asked watching her bring the fork filled with crumbly cake to his face. 

“I sure am. Open up.”

Garreth slowly opened his mouth, keeping eye contact with her. She fed the cake into his waiting mouth and watched as his lips wrapped around the fork. 

Pulling away slowly, she focused on his chewing.

“Mmh... You little tease…” Garreth smiled down at her after swallowing the bite. He successfully snatched the fork back seeming more playful than ever.

She giggled, tossing her head back and breaking eye contact for the first time in minutes. 

“Let me see those beautiful eyes again,” Garreth tilted her chin to face him. “I could get lost in them for hours…” And he did, many many times the last week they’d become official. 

She was still laughing as he gave her a heated look. A permanent smile was etched into the redhead's features. “A bit of payback,” He dipped his fork into the cake and came away with a bite-sized piece. 

She watched his eyes glint playfully as the cake grew near.

“Open,” He whispers, using his free hand to hold her face. His thumb ran over the seam of her lips and pulled until her mouth dropped open. 

She took the bite of food and pressed her lips down as he slowly pulled the fork out. “Mm…” She hummed as she chewed the piece. A blast of chocolate goodness flooded her mouth and she savored it.

Garreth smirked. “You got a little something…” He leaned in and his tongue struck out, licking a crumb off her bottom lip. She let out a small gasp at the sensation. Garreth wore a smug grin. “Got it.” 

She sighed and felt the telltale sign of a blush rush to her cheeks, again. Garreth handed her the fork as if to say ‘Your turn’. 

MC took the utinsil and got more cake to feed him. She cupped his face and brought the fork close. “Open for me,” She whispered. Garreth blushed harder and opened his mouth. She fed him the bite. His lips pulled the chocolate chunk from the fork. “Yummy?” She asked as he chewed, still keeping him locked in a staring contest. 

“Delicious.” He smirked. 

MC reached out and thumbed his bottom lip. “Let me clean you up,” She swiped fudgy frosting and brought her finger to her mouth, licking it and then sticking it unnecessarily. All the while, a playful smile tugged at her lips.  

Garreth was entranced by every move she made, watching her lick her finger like a hawk. 

She may have sucked on the finger far longer than what was necessary before pulling it out with a loud POP. 

Garreth let out a large sigh and adjusted in his pants. He swallowed thickly looking between her heated gaze and her lips.

“Thirsty?” Garreth asked in a low voice. 

“Parched,” MC emphasized the word.

Garreth grabbed the glass of butterbeer from the table and handed it to her. He helped her tip the cup up and watched her take a few big swigs. He was far too close, focusing on her neck as her throat bob with each sip. 

Someone walked by and scoffed at the couple. Garreth and MC both ignored them as they always did. Their own little world was unable to be shattered. 

Garreth took a sip of the cup when she was done and then sat it back on the table. 

“Your eyes are so pretty, like emeralds.” She told him, moving a piece of hair off his forehead as an excuse to touch him. “You are very cute.” 

“Don’t say that,” He leaned into her more. “I’ll never stop blushing at this rate.” Their voices were quiet enough just to be heard between them.

He finds himself trapped in her gaze, running his hands down her arm to take her hand in his. Their fingers lace together and brings her hand to his lips. He kisses each and every one of her knuckles. 

Her palm sides up his chest and moves to hold the back of his neck. “I can feel your heart racing.” She smiles, playing with the curly hair at the base of his neck. 

“Can we eat cake like this every day?” He laughed gleefully and MC joined. 

“Want another bite?” She holds up the fork.

“Hm… I want to taste something else.” He winks and pulls the plate and fork from her hands, setting them aside on the small table. 

He leans in, watching to see if she accepts. Their lips meet briefly and Garreth sucks in a breath. There's an inch between them, and he lingers. 

“...More?” She teases pulling him closer by the back of his head. 

“Yes,” He blurts out. 

Their lips press together again and he sighs blissfully.

MC’s hand grips his hair, forcing him closer. Their tongues lightly touch and Garreth lets out a quiet moan. 

“Get a room!” Someone yells at them. They, in fact, did not get a room. 

They kiss a moment longer, both melting into one another for good measure after the heckling. The chocolate cake’s flavor was still very prominent on his lips and she used her tongue to taste more.

She breaks the kiss and Garreth pouts at the loss. 

“You called me a tease earlier.” She traces his parted lips with her finger. 

"I like that you're a tease, I REALLY like it." He whispers softly. 

She smiled at him indicating that was the right answer. 

"But,” Garreth continued. “Maybe I will have to teach you a lesson if you keep this up..." 

Her brows rose feigning shock. “Oh? What kind of lesson?” 

Garreth smirked. “You’ll just have to see, hm?”

He pulled her face up and began trailing kisses along her jaw. He pushes her head to the side kindly and kisses a trail to her ear. 

MC’s breathing became shallow as she shivered. Every kiss, every touch, every lick,- oh gods, he was licking her,- made her whimper. 

“Ah…” She sighed. “You know all the right things to do to me.”

His teeth scraped over the skin adding yet another amazing sensation.

“Want me to stop? I can stop~” Garreth breathed against her ear. 

“Don’t you dare stop…” She held his head to her neck and added. “Now look who’s the tease.” 

His laugh against her skin was sinful. Chilled bumps rushed down her arms. 

Garreth found a nice spot on her neck and began to suck hard.

“OH! Oh, don’t make it too obvious this time.” She pleaded breathlessly. “I don’t want to get in trouble again.” 

He smiled against her skin and moved down to a more hideable spot, pulling her shirt until her shoulder was exposed. He latched on again, sucking hard, again and again, until a mark began to appear. 

“Are those two at it again!? Good grief…” A female voice threatened their moment. 

“Mm..” She whimpered as he sucked harder to make sure the mark was dark. 

His lips left her shoulder with an obscene suction noise. 

“Such a lovely sound when you whimper,” Garreth trailed his kisses back up to her neck. He licked a trail and then blew lightly over the wet spots making them cold and MC tremble. 

“Oh… Gods.” She breathed out slowly, trying to keep her cool. Yet, quiet moans flowed from her lips like a rushing river. She was getting further and further to the point of no return. "Stop doing that... You're making me lose control of myself…" She panted as he continued his assault on her neck. 

He does not stop kissing and licking more passionately, humming happily against her skin. 

“You're going to kill me,” MC moans as his hand discretely roams her torso. She focuses on every touch, every sound he makes. 

“I love making you 'suffer'." He answers, sucking harshly on a very visible spot as a tease. 

“You’re being so sadistic,” MC accuses sarcastically. 

Garreth chuckles as he kisses her collarbone. “You like the ‘pain’, right?” 

It was far from painful, bordering on orgasmic. 

“I want your kisses...” She requests before she actually gets off, untouched, in the middle of the common room from his lips on her neck. Maybe those other people were right, they should probably get a room. 

He eagerly fulfills her request. Pressing his mouth into hers in a heated kiss. Her arms go up around his neck. They’re practically lying down on the couch now. She bucks her hips up and feels just how affected all this has made him. 

His hand holds her hip down so she doesn’t grind against it just yet. He breaths rapidly, red waves falling into his face.

“Room of requirement?” His voice was laced with desperation.

“Yes. Right now.” 

"There they go again..." A boy in the common room rolls his eyes to his friend as the couple rush off, hand in hand. Their sweets utterly forgotten.

.

.

.

You read that whole thing!? Interesting~

.

Thanks for reading! ❤️ - Ash

Masterlist is in my bio

[artisimpossible]

Just out of curiosity, why did you decide to write A Flair of Fate as a comic, rather than prose?

Hi!

So this is actually a really complicated answer, but I'm gonna try to break it down into the key points.

A Flair of Fate is largely in conversation with shounen anime, so I wanted it to be in a medium that would allow it to embody the tropes it deploys, but also where it could be in open conversation with similar stories.

Prose is a really limited medium in a couple of different ways. It's hard to have really large casts in prose novels because it's hard for people to remember all of the characters when all you have is a name to remember them by, and bc prose typically follows a limited number of POVs, you can only keep up with so many characters in their own time, plus you're limited to only seeing that which your POV characters see/know. In a Flair of Fate, this would be a major issue because Javi is a REALLY unreliable narrator. [Mild spoilers to follow], BUT a recurring theme in this comic is normalizing things that are NOT normal. One example is here in the prologue:

This is just an establishing shot of Javi's best friend's house, but there are all these security cameras everywhere. They live in a dystopian police state, where there's hyper-vigilance, but that's normal to them, so if we were navigating all of this through Javi's head, it would be a lot harder to drop these details that he genuinely doesn't notice. Visually, I can establish these subtle cues throughout as the story builds, which is really important because this story has A LOT to explore that Javi is oblivious to at the beginning LOL.

3. The story is long form, kind of like old TV used to be, in that it's one long story that can be divided into arcs or seasons, but the big villain is consistent until we finally confront them at the end. In prose novels, each book is supposed to be able to stand [mostly] on it's own, with a full plot arc per installment, and that would absolutely not work for this story!

4. The fluidity of an illustrated medium detaches readers from a tendency to take things too seriously or too literally. It adds a sort of inherent humor that allows stories like, say, Avatar the Last Airbender, which deals with war and genocide, to still be incredibly light-hearted and funny most of the time. This was super pivotal for this story too because it does have some really dark moments and some very heavy plotlines. It's a dystopian, anticapitalist story at it's core, BUT most of it is a sort of slap-stick humor/friendship/romance story about all the shenanigans that go down in this superhero sports league, so being able to manipulate the tone of a scene through the artwork makes a HUGE difference!

Ex:

5. And the last big reason is because I have ADHD and reading prose sometimes can feel kind of insurmountable, but the bite-size, visual heavy chunks of webcomic format gives my brain the happy hum feeling, so when I decided that I wanted to tell as story that would embody everything *I* the fanboi would want in a story, I realized it only made sense to let it be a webcomic!

Anyway, thanks for asking! Sorry this was the longest response ever LOL

[riflebrass]

Tonight I decided to try something different so I made "lasagna" soup. I didn't feel like breaking up lasagna into bite sized pieces so I went with bowties. But you get the idea. Ingredients: (1X) 12oz pack of pasta (3x) 29oz cans of tomato sauce. Not spaghetti sauce. Basically thickened tomato juice (1x) 28oz can of diced tomatoes 2lb Ricotta (I meant to get 1lb but got 2 by mistake and just rolled with it) 20ish cloves garlic All the onions (I had 1 white 2 yellow) 1lb ground beef 1lb ground Italian sausage 12oz bowtie pasta OPTIONAL: Sodium Citrate 1. I chopped my onions and put it in my skillet with the garlic and let it simmer covered for the better part of an hour. I didn't bother chopping the garlic because I figured it would dissolve in the sauce. It's very soft but still chunks of whole garlic. I consider that a win anyway lol.

2. While that's going I dumped the ricotta into my soup pot and had it set to medium-low. I added the cans of tomato sauce and let it warm up until the cheese melted. I dumped unmeasured amounts of basil, oregano, and thyme on top. After a while I hit it with a stick blender to mix the cheese thoroughly and let it simmer a while longer. Honestly a whisk probably would have been fine if you don't have a stick blender.

3. After about 45 minutes the sauce was staying mixed pretty well but to ensure it didn't separate later I added a spoonful of sodium citrate. It's an emulsifier common in cooking that keeps liquids mixed together when they normally separate. It's a real game changer for home made nacho cheese. Despite containing sodium it doesn't add a salty flavor. Just be careful if you're trying to watch your sodium intake.

4. After I was done messing with the base I went back to the onions. They were fully cooked so I cranked the heat up to medium-high to evaporate the water off of them then dumped it in the soup pot. This seemed like a good time as any to add the diced tomatoes

5. I fried up the pound of ground beef. I added a little salt but not much. The tomato sauce already had a fair amount of salt to it and there was the sodium citrate. Once that I was done I cooked up the sausage and dumped that in the pot. I just did them separately because my skillet was too small for 2lbs of meat. 6. While I was cooking the meat I got a pot of water boiling for the pasta. Bowties was all the store had for a 12oz pack and a full pound seemed like too much. Usually when you make pasta you're supposed to salt the water but I refrained because of the prior mentioned sodium content. I boiled the noodles to al-dente. That's pretty firm but there's a ton of leftovers here and I figured sitting in the pot of hot stuff would cook it further. I didn't want complete mush later. 7. When pasta is done drain and mix it in. The soup was a little too thick for my liking so I mixed in some water to thin it down a little. Maybe 3/4 of a cup? I didn't measure.

I probably ended up with 6-8 quarts of soup so there's plenty of leftovers and I really like how it turned out.

[verycharismaticdragon]

Hey what if I did, like, a lets play of On Air Island but! an interactive one where we collectively choose the next option (via a poll) would anyone play with me

Um yeah to expound on that thought

What's On Air Island?

On Air Island is a game I'm currently brainrotting about.

The genre is stated as horror/thriller but even if you're not a fan of these genres id say still check it out because im not a fan either and Yet

This is perhaps because the game has a strong mystery element and encourages multiple replays/going back to try out different options (theres a really comfortable to use mechanic for that too!) so theres this drive to uncover more of the story. Which is why I'm still playing despite having finished all 40 endings already (yes, thats forty endings)

Quick plot blurb: the plot follows the cast and crew of a survival show called 'Never Stop Watching!' set up on a remote island. The show's unique setting is that every cast member streams their experience, and the winner is determined by the number of donations they receive on their stream. However, the island is not as simple as it appears, and soon enough the rankings will be the least of the cast's problems! (Que horror/thriller elements)

Why interactive Let's Play?

The thing I found the most refreshing about OAI is that you, the player, do not play as the protagonist, but rather as one of the viewers on the protagonist's stream. When the absence of 'i would not fucking say/do that' experience hits lol. Because of such setting, aside from the main cast, the presence of Observers - the fellow viewers - is strongly felt throughout the story as well. EzraHanse girlies in the chat you will always be famous. And... sometimes other Observers have completely different ideas about what's good for blorbo from your streams!

Then, since I run a poll aggregator blog and see like hundreds of polls a day, the vision of in-game choices and tumblr polls overlapped in my brain...

...and I thought, hey, wouldn't it be extremely atmospheric and true to in-game experience to have a bunch of people chipping in to determine the advice and tasks the protagonist receives from his viewers? Thus, the idea of doing an interactive lets play was born.

What are the pros of participating in the Let's Play, instead of just playing the game?

Well, first of all, this is absolutely my dastardly plan to make y'all play the game, make no mistake!

That said, if you aren't sure you are interested in playing it, you can experience the story in bite-sized chunks (i just vidded the prologue up to the first choice, and its less than 2 minutes!) on a semi-daily basis, with a little dopamine hit of clickin' the button at the end <3

Another thing is that making 'a donation' - ie, a choice in game - requires in-game currency. There are various ways to farm currency and there are almost always cheaper choices available, however! Since I already played and replayed multiple times, I have many choices unlocked, and it'll be easy for me to farm for the remaining ones. Especially now that I got all the endings and the desire to find the best one no longer plagues me so. So - you can experience the game while avoiding the grind!

And, ofc, as I've mentioned before, having many viewers/Observers would be very true to the atmosphere of the game. Ideally, I would hope for some discussion in the comments too, to parallel the in-game chat! This is also why I hope people who already played the game will participate too 👉👈 The more Observers we have the better, right? ;3

What if I don't vibe with watching videos / miss something / etc?

I'm planning to have a transcript available for each video, and something like a story-so-far post that you can check out to get up to date at any point. I also figure I'll be adjusting the format along the way, if we can get this party started at all, so feel free to suggest improvements to me at any time!

[emeritus-fuckers]

Howdy hey I'm interested in trying the match-up event. I always enjoy reading the things y'all've written.

Apologies in advance if this is a mess. 1. Identity: I am nonbinary, use they/them and she/her pronouns. I'm bisexual and a bit on the demisexual side.

2. Who I like: I'm cool with either the papas or ghouls

3. What I look like: I'm 5'8" and chubby. I'm pretty strong and got some muscle so I'm built perfect for giving big hugs and cuddles (though it'll take a bit of convincing to get me cuddly). At the moment my hair is dyed bright red but it changes colors often. Both my eyes have sectoral heterochromia and are green with a bright blue chunk. I usually wear all black graphic tees, skinny jeans, boots, and fun colored socks that often show because i never find pants that are long enough in my size lol.

4. My personality: I am introverted but enjoy being around others even if it wears me out. I'm good with kids (I'm a human jungle gym at this point) and people tend to tell me their secrets and find it easy to be open/themselves around me. I'd say i'm pretty smart but I will do stupid things just because i'm curious. Folks i'm comfortable around will never hear the end of my current interests and I'm a complete goofball (I've been banned from being funny at the table because i've caused too many people to choke laughing oops). It takes a while to actually get to know me deeply because I keep things close to my chest and dont open up easily. I've got a lot of anxiety and some baggage that I keep hidden but I'm working on I swear. I can get really competitive over trivial things and can turn anything into a game. I sometimes go MIA when im distracted with whatever the hell i'm into at that time but when I reappear there's always something new to share. (I can tell you everything you never wanted to know about pipe organs!)

5. Interests: I've got the adhd so my interests bounce around a lot. I like making things and I mess around with a lot with different crafts. I do a lot of fiber arts stuff and I've also recently been whittling bears (I have a few around somewhere). I love music both listening and playing it. I play 8 instruments (violin, viola, cello, mandolin, ukulele, trumpet, trombone, and french horn) but I'm best with the violin because i've been playing it for around 17 years. I'm also teaching myself accordion and guitar. I play video games sometimes and I especially enjoy getting 100% completion. In general I love learning anything and everything and am a "jack of many trades but master of none"

6.Trivia: My favorite movie is fantasia 2000 and recently I completed my goal of performing every music piece in an orchestra (The Pines of Rome and the Firebird Suite are my favs). I collect knickknacks and random things I find and use them to decorate my spaces and I have a skeleton with a mustache in a wizard costume in the back seat of my car and its name is Todd. I also keep googly eyes in my bag just in case

This post is part of the 1000 followers match up event. Entries for the event are now closed.

Your match is...Swiss

You and Swiss quickly became friends, he's so excited by things and so enthusiastic that you got swept up in it all. He's charming and really sweet to you, so you started to fall for him. One day you were sitting outside, Swiss taking a large drag of his vape before he looks at you and grins. "I love ya, you know that right gorgeous one?" You blush and blurt out that you feel the same way. Swiss responds by biting your shoulder just under the collar of your t-shirt. "There now it's offical" he says so excited he's practically jumping up and down "you're my mate!"

Swiss adores your eyes, he thinks they are the most awesome thing ever, and so beautiful. He tells you this a lot.

Swiss adores how much of a goofball you are, he is too, and you spend a lot of time together both laughing so hard you end up tearing up.

If your anxeity is getting bad he will cuddle and do anythig he can to help. If things get too much and you seem sad he'll hold you. He will cuddle you as long as you need. Then he'll try and take your mind off things, anything to get you to laugh a little and smile. Swiss is chaos personified but one thing is constant for him, he loves you and is devoted to you.

Swiss can keep up with your changing interestests. Infact he loves it! This Ghoul enjoys chaos and jumping around from thing to thing, that keeps him occupied. Whatever you get into he'll throw himself into it completely with you.

He is fascinated by all the things you collect. He loves how varied they are and the skeleton with a moutache is his favourite. He was very excited when you whittled him a bear. You handed it to him and he just looked at it like 'woow this is awesome'. he keeps it in his room, pride of place.

He's more than happy to help you learn guitar, he gets so excited his tail starts swishing around. He passes you his guitar and sits behind you legs either side of you showing you a cord and then letting you practice. He'll kiss your neck or softly bite your shoulder every now and then. He'll rest his chin on your shoulder and watches. He smiles at how fast you are learning, his smile is gorgeous enough to make your heart melt for him, to forget completely what you were playing and you just smile back. Often this leads to you getting so distracted the guitar gets forgotten as he presses his lips to yours.

~

Written by Nyx

[littleblondesoprano]

4,9, 14, 24

Thank you!! :D!! I'm whacking this under a Read More because apparently I like to talk, lol.

4) List five of your favorite recipes, share them if you like!

1) Peanut Butter Ramen: I've been addicted to this lately. What you're gonna do is get your ramen noodle block (whichever you like, but mom and I get our favorite kind from Costco). Cover it in water and pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes.

While that's cooking, you're going to assemble your Team. You Need: Peanut Butter (any kind, but we use Justin's, the one with honey in it), Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Five Spice, Ginger, Coconut Aminos (can use Soy Sauce in its place). Raw veggies, sriracha, sesame seeds, and french fried onions.

You're gonna slap like half a cup of peanut butter, however much garlic, onion powder, ginger, and five spice you think you want, a splash of coconut aminos, and mix that shit together. You now have your peanut butter sauce.

Next, your raw veggies. You can throw legit whatever you want in there, but I use bell pepper (Red), carrot slices, green onions, purple onions, and cucumbers. Slice your veggies to mouth-sized pieces to your heart's content!

Drain out the water from the ramen with a similarly sized plate on top of the ramen noodles. Once you are done choppin, plop in a good 3-4 heaping tablespoons of your peanut butter sauce to the ramen, all of your chopped veggies, then top with sriracha, sesame seeds, and french fried onions! Combine and FEAST. Keep in the fridge, and you can easily get 4 meals out of this sauce.

2) No Bake Cookies (Boiled Cookies) I've had these so many times in my life and they are always fucking bangers. Cannot go wrong with these!!

3) Salmon-Avocado Sushi Salad: Mom and I make sushi for lunch (and I usually get two more meals out of sushi rolls too) and all the leftovers go into a big bowl that I call 'sushi salad' and can eat 2/3 of before feeling sick because it's just so good that you don't want to stop eating. Keep in mind: This recipe is for 2 people across multiple days - it's 5 meals out of this amount, including sushi salad. Which is a lot, in and of itself.

You Need: 1 Can Salmon, 2 packs Nori sheets, 2-3 english cucumbers, 3-4 carrots, 3-4 ripe avocados, black sesame seeds, Coconut Aminos, 1 red bell pepper, 4 cups sushi/sticky rice. Tupperware containers. Water. Big Knife. 3 bowls. Rice cooker.

Properly clean your sushi rice and pop it in the rice cooker (or use the stove, whatever). While that is cooking, slice your english cucumber, carrots, and red bell pepper into long, thin slices. Drain your canned salmon and turn on the sink to make the liquid go away faster bc my god does it stink. Empty salmon into bowl, and crack open your avocados - scoop out whatever meat inside is not bad and add it to the bowl with your salmon; once all avocados are free of their husk, get a potato masher or fork and go to Town. I like my meat mixture like a green ooze, but if you want chunks, don't go Fully to town. Take an Exit or two before you are at Blob level ooze. Set off to the side.

Get another bowl and fill it almost to the brim with water, this is to dunk your Big Knife in so the sushi/sticky rice does not adhere to it in between cuts, bc it will TRY.

Once rice is done, lay out a Nori sheet and cover in rice, making sure to leave space at the top - like the header on a google doc - to wet so the Nori will stick to itself and Become Roll. Layer in your fillings - we start with sesame seeds, then the Meat Ooze, then cucumbers, then carrots, then bell pepper before Rolling. Do this until you have today's lunch, and two days worth of sushi (usually, two medium sized tupperware containers, single layered).

Now armed with your left overs, you're going to cut up the rest of your veggies into bite sized pieces and throw it in the bowl with the Meat Ooze. Toss in a handful or two of sesame seeds, two Nori sheets (torn up, for bite-ability), and not all of the rice, but a good chunk of it. Top with a shit ton of Coconut Aminos, stir up, and Enjoy. :3

4) Pickle Chicken: This is a pretty easy one, but it is time consuming. You Need: Chicken Breasts, Big Pickle Jar (24 oz), Garlic powder, Onion powder, salt and pepp, panko bread crumbs, flour of your choice, egg or milk or both, an Air Fryer but two is better.

You're gonna beat up the chicken and then submerge it in a bath of pickles and *lots* of pickle juice. Marinate them bois in pickle juice in the fridge for two days. Come back to it having assembled a wet and dry breading station: in one container we have a beaten egg, or milk, or a mixture of both - and in the other corner we have our Spices (onion, garlic, probably salt, pepper and w/e else you want) flour, and bread crumbs. Beside that we have as many air fryers as you can plug in without throwing a fuse.

Spray the insides of the air fryers with nonstick things, like Pam. Take that Pickled goodness known as chicken out of its briny grave, dredge in the dry, then the Wet, then the dry again before tossing very quickly (but not too quick to splatter) into a heated air fryer. Do this until all fryer space is full or you are out of chicken. Flip the chicken at the 10 minute mark, then fry an additional 12-15 minutes, or until the internal temp reads at least 165F/80C. Then pop that sucker on a sandwich, or enjoy with honey mustard if you know what is yummy.

5) Rotisserie Chicken Salad (Add Dill if you like Dill. And green onions) I used to eat a version of this for a while when I first came home from college! Very good, very refreshing, esp with crackers or on a sandwich with some lettuce + cucumbers. (Pro tip: cherry tomatoes on the side go beautifully with this. I also add like, half of the mayo, I don't like my chicken salad soupy.)

9) If you could go anywhere in the universe and in time, where would you go? What would you do? Who would you be?

I would go back to Ancient Rome, when the Coliseum was almost completed. I had a dream - but it just felt different than a normal dream - that I was standing on top of a hill, with, I guess, my partner in that life, watching a big block being lifted with a rudimentary crane as the sun was just starting to set. I want to go there, not just to see what I think is a past-life version of myself, but to just look down from that hill. I have the image stuck in my brain - it's been a few years since I had the dream - and I really want to see it for real. I'd also just really love watching a naval battle happen in the coliseum bc that sounds wild.

14) Would you ever visit a lighthouse?

I have already! On vacation a long while ago (2012-ish?) we visited the Saint Augustine Lighthouse in Saint Augustine, FL. It was beautiful, and really fun! The view is so worth going up all those stairs, and, it's haunted! We mainly went bc it's haunted, but it was really fun! I'd totally go back. And ofc, I would visit a lighthouse, they're often haunted and I'd fucking love ghost hunting in one.

24) Be honest, do you have stuffed animals?

I have many!! I'll even show ya pictures! I have two Ghostface plushies because I fucking love that man, that mythos, that bod, that knife.

I have a lil ghostie who falls off my bed every single night, so I just put him on the floor. And a GIANT ghostie that I got from TJ Maxx last year in the Halloween section because I loved it.

A big ol' bat!! I think I got it from Michaels when the Halloween stuff was on sale. And I have a bat Ugly Doll (does anyone else remember when those were big?) I have my other Ugly Dolls, but they're in a bin. The Bat has special privileges on account of being a bat.

I have a bichon frise dog plush, bc my paternal grandma had a bichon named Bebe and I loved her dearly. This plushie is named Sassy though. I think mom got her for me when I was a toddler bc we were on a long car ride (10 hours) and I didn't have a stuffed animal with me.

I have Beast, from Beauty and the Beast. I got him from when I went to Disney, almost eight years ago? He falls off a lot. And a $6 Build-a-bear from the $6 build-a-bear day. I got it in college; it used to have little overalls, but they ripped so I shoved the fabric in my fabric stash (ziploc bag) and now it is Nakey. It is also ripped down the back for some reason, and I gotta try and sew it back up.

A ram, very fluffy, very cute. It holds up the rest of the plushies. Foundational King.

A ragdoll plush that looks a lot like Fluffy when she was little! Dad bought her for me when I moved four hours away for college, so I wouldn't miss my Fluffy as much. (Read: I did miss her just as much, but the plushie was very nice).

A roadkill Bunny that I adore! The ones on Etsy sold out way too fast, so I got one from Amazon. The quality is definitely not as good, but I love it just the same.

A giant sheepdog! I don't remember if I named it or not, it's been so long. I took it to college with me because I legit cannot sleep without it or without pillows/a person in its spot. I need to have both sides of my body barricaded when I sleep. i am not joking when I say my body wakes me up if it falls off of the bed.

I also have all the plushies (stored away, ofc) that I loved when I was little, like the sock monkey mom passed down to me (Monkey-Lunkey), or Googly-Eyed Scooby, or the horse from Toy Story.

[l56895]

For the Spotify wrapped fic game:

How about 24 (for maths reasons - it's a favourite of mine😄), or 42 (for Douglas Adams reasons, obvs).

You pick which - or both if you really fancy! 💚

We’ll try for both!

24. Screams Heartstopper for me

LOL that’s okay!!!

Something in Nick’s own reply tugs at something else deep inside. It doesn’t feel like enough, not really, when his friend has just spilled his pain out in bite size chunks. Nick bites his lip as he types out another.

If he ever comes near you again I’ll kick his ass

That feels better- like something he’s supposed to say. The sour guilt that arranged itself in the pit of his stomach when he finally begged Charlie to never speak to Ben again… it’s disappearing now. But not entirely gone. Gnawing. Like he’s asking for something he doesn’t have the right to.

But they’re friends, right? And friends ask for stuff. They banter, like kick-ass jokes, and they do stuff for one another, like never speaking to a crush again because it makes you feel funny. Not jealous… but wrong.

Maybe friends send heart icons to one another too. Kisses. Charlie seems to do that. Nick kind of likes it.

🖋✒️🖋✒️🖋✒️🖋✒️🖋

42. Got to be Schitt’s Creek!

“Come on, David. You can learn this.”

“I could, but should I? Do you really want this-“ He gestures up and down the sweater he has pulled on this morning, black in somehow four different ways, “-trying to produce any sort of music? You’ve heard my mother’s attempts to get me to sing at Christmas.”

“I swear, I could teach you in two hours. Tops. And then you can join in on open mic nights, it could be fun!”

“That is not the way to convince me, I can assure you,” he mutters sardonically, but prises the ukulele from Patrick’s grip regardless. He holds it the wrong way, and the strings ping dully under his touch, but it’s a start. There is an awkward, grimacing moment where man and ukulele battle for the last laugh, but then David is holding it in some vague semblance of upright.

“Okay,” Patrick laughs as he adjusts his elbows around the instrument. “First thing’s first, chords…”

[mapsofnonexistentplaces]

ok trying to go over the year’s reads in chronological order i am just spitballing and none of this is good reviewwork

house of leaves — it’s house of leaves what do you want me to say. there was a house of leaves. genuinely really love it but i’ve started to form this semihearted grudge against it because it’s like The One Weird Book everyone recommends and it kind of clouds discussion of other ergodic lit LOL it’s for good reason though there’s nothing else quite like it

kafka on the shore — book that i need to finish actually i’ve still got a chunk of it undone…. honestly might just restart it altogether i don’t remember much of the plot since i started it in like february. but augh. i remember it feeling very smooth to read. pacing of it was extremely stilted in a way that like. i thought was quite cool actually. loved the way it split its perspectives

ulysses — read through a few chapters before i kind of just dropped it unintentionally. really want to get back to it it’s just. impenetrable if i’m not giving it my full and utmost attention lol

a streetcar named desire — reiterating something i said ages ago which is “i could not fucking care less about what tennessee williams’ plays are about but goddamn if they’re not extremely inspiring in the way they’re composed and conveyed” or something like that

the like first 2 books of the new wc arc go inbetween here chronologically…. they’re not as fun as the last arc enough so that i’ve decided i don’t care about those cats anymore lol. complete slog that makes me wish for the days of cat hell possession conflicts instead of weird love triangles or whatever

wonderbook — really good…. i mean it’s literally a “guide” but it feels much more like just a ‘manifesto’ of how a story can be good. it was a really fun read as someone who’s never really been too impressed by common writing advice and who has also never really gotten engrossed in writing circles with other people…. kind of book that feels valuable to both people who are freshly getting into writing and more experienced writers. definitely helped me name and put pressure on elements of my own writing and composition that was just fully instinct-driven prior. it’s good.

tainaron — aughhhh i’ve reread this one like thrice this year…. i’ve fucking yelled about it before on my blog so many times and i’m just restating what i’ve said before which is go look up tainaron and read it it’s like 70 pages it’s just posted online by the original author and it’s a wonderful time. bugs can be both scary and beautiful. you will realise this. ❤️

sphinx or robot — from the same author! this one’s also fun but just not as satisfactory or unified as tainaron imo. nother good short bout though

a midsummer night’s dream — i don’t like shakespeate. dint care.

if on a winter’s night a traveller — hol-like in that it kind of clouds discussion of ergodic lit but once again i kind of get it. honestly this feels like a really good digestible intro to such styles id definitely recommend it with the caveat of like. “be ready for useless background misogyny throughout”. the whole premise grants it a really slick pace love the idea of uniting unfinished ‘chapters’ of stories together…. will forever be thinking about leaning from the steep slope and wishing it was a fully fledged novel though

the castle of crossed destinies — another calvino work. once again love this guy’s prose although i wish he wrote women better LOL uhhh honestly just a really good bite sized bit of weird allegorical literature it’s so much more obtuse and “dry” than ioawnat but i feel like the framing device and style make up for the kind of nothing plot. i suppose that’s kind of the point of it as well….

strassburg’s tristan — currently reading through it and halfway across! specifically the hatto translation which i’m like most definitively marking as some of the most beautiful prose i’ve ever read LOL style of it feels like wading through water

shit that’s on my reading list and that i want to go through soon also….

already started vandermeer’s ambergris trilogy i think i just started and forgot to ever finish city of saints and madmen. fun style though

the complete cosmicomics — again sifted through a bit of the beginning it feels like an even more sludgy set of calvino works than castle of crossed destinies was. but it’s enchanting regardless and i’ll probably read it and like it. i’m lame!

this is how you lose the time war — been on my list for ages i’ve seen excerpts i’ve liked….

piranesi — when rocks have a shape they can be anything in the world or whatever i’m sure this book will say it in a cool way

the seagull — i’m really struggling to find interesting plays that are not about divorce or uninteresting melodrama and this one still applies im sure but from what i’ve read it does so in an interesting way LOL

pale fire — to complete the set of “weird books nobody will shut up about being weird” i need to get to this one. 👍

[bratshaws]

goodness gracious 55. brb x oc

a/n: so the smut was supposed to be here but I lost connection and somehow?? lost a good chunk of this chapter h a h idk how it happened but im VERY upset. ..well I guess that means I'll have to rewrite the smut chapter again but its okay. it'll be worth it!!! IM UPSET BUT IM OKAY ( also some of the Italian stuff here I based off my own childhood with my loud as fuck Italian family members LOL )

check out the fic's playlist made by the sweet @wiipes !!

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: fluff, Rooster is now an honorary Schiavoni

chapters:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30/31/32/33/34/35/36/37/38/39/40/41/42/43/44

45/46/47/48/49/50/51/52/53/54

(pls let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!!)

taglist: @mirandastuckinthe80s @roosterschanelslut @wiipes @lcahwriter @shrimping-for-all @gretagerwigsmuse @frenchtoastix

@lizzie-rdj @fanboyluvr @atarmychick007 @comebacktoearthpls

@peachiicherries @mak-32 @lizziespidiepridie @roosterswifey @ollyoxenfrees @piceous21 @sqrlgrl22 @hofficoffi @lexhalstead3 

@lorilane33 @legendarydreamersharkparty @luckyladycreator2 @emilybradshaw @j-6o @louisahale @leobabbyyy @kulicny @winter-run @ktjmac

-

He wakes up first when the sunlight is barely up in the sky, Beatrice’s body still glued to him except now they were both chest to chest. He blinks his bleary eyes until he can figure out what to do first, his eyes then moving to where Bianca was, she was no longer hugging Jolene but now was on top of the dog. Chuckling tiredly, looks down from Bianca to Beatrice before slowly getting out of the mattress.

Beatrice moaned out a complaint but remained asleep, which he was thankful for. It was Christmas Eve, he could give them a gift early in the morning right? Fixing his sleeping shirt and sweatpants, Rooster made his way to the kitchen, the sound of his bare feet touching the floor made Jolene blink her eyes open and lift her head in his direction. The pittie waking up meant that Bianca woke up just as quickly, blinking her eyes open and rubbing her tiny hands over her eyes. 

Pushing herself to sit on her knees to look over the back of the couch, Bianca could see Prince Rooster moving about her auntie’s kitchen, grabbing things from cabinets while trying to keep himself as quiet as he could. Bianca slid down the couch with Jolene close behind, her aunt still fast asleep and unaware of what was happening around her. Her tiny padded feet took her to stand right next to Bradley, who hadn't noticed her yet until she grabbed the back of his shirt and gave it a tug.

He just turned his head down, biting his lips when he saw the blue dinosaur onesie’s eyes staring up at him until Bianca tilted her head up, “What are you doing?” she asks, already approaching the sink, standing on her tiptoes to have a better look.

“I’m making some pancakes.” Bianca’s eyes shine when he says it, her mouth parting in a soft gasp, “Do you want to help me?”

“Yeah!”

Beatrice hums in her sleep, the conversation happening in the kitchen stirring her from her slumber. She groans a bit, rubbing her hands over her face as she pushes herself up on her elbows, looking around confusedly until she hears their voices get clearer in the kitchen.

She sat up on her knees, rubbing her face again before combing through her tangled tresses, hissing every time her fingers got snagged before she walked out of the mattress towards the kitchen. Beatrice’s breath hitched when she saw Bianca sitting on the kitchen counter, holding a bag of chocolate chips open as Rooster mixed something in a bowl then moved it closer to her niece so she could pour the said sweets inside.

It was the sweetest thing she had ever seen. She even wondered if she was dreaming about it. But when the little blonde girl noticed her still bleary eyed aunt approaching the kitchen, her sweet “Hi auntie!” woke her up, “We’re making pancakes!”

Beatrice smiles gently, crossing her arms over her bust as she gets closer, “Pancakes, huh?” she repeats, seeing how his eyes moved to her the second she stepped in, “Hi, good morning.” she coos, leaning her lips closer to kiss him.

“Morning, how did you sleep?” he asks, folding the pancake mix so the chocolate chips are embedded into it.

“Mmm,” she stepped between him and her curious niece who was now grabbing some chocolate chips from the bag, “I slept really nice.” she whispers, lifting her hand to run through the messy sandy strands, combing them back to what he was used to. She noticed how his breathing hitched and he gave her a look but didn’t do anything beyond that, “Bibi, you need to go potty, remember?”

Bianca slows her chewing to furrow her eyebrows, “I don’t wanna! I wanna make pancakes with Prince Rooster!” but her aunt countered that the pancakes would still be there and it’d be really quick if she went now. Bianca whined but agreed, placing the bag to the side and allowing her aunt to pick her up and take her to the bathroom. 

He could hear Bianca trying to hurry it up and Beatrice telling her she still had to wash her hands, much to his amusement. Soon after he heard the quick footsteps of a child rushing down the stairs, Jolene looked back to where Bianca was coming and stepped away so the little girl returned to peek over the counter, “I’m back! Did you make them yet?”

“I didn’t, I was waiting for you.” he says, picking Bianca under the armpits to place her once again on the counter top. Beatrice’s footsteps showed up soon after, with a soft sigh making its way out of her mouth. She watches with a fond gaze as Bradley picks Bianca up, holding her in his arms and tells her how she should pour the mix on the pan. Her niece is so focused  on pouring it perfectly she doesn’t move her eyes away.

Bea has to place a hand in front of her mouth in hopes it hides her smile, without success of course, but she can’t help it. Rooster held Bianca securely and wanted her to enjoy making pancakes for all of them, it was literally the cutest thing she had ever seen in her whole life. He was so attentive and so gentle with her niece, complimenting her whenever she did anything right and celebrating with her if she flipped a pancake without issues.

If he’s like that with kids that aren’t even his, imagine how he is with the ones that are.

Woah.

That thought came out of nowhere and immediately freaked her out, even more than the marriage talk she had with Bibi the night before. She was way over her head, yes it was cute it did not mean…anything else. “Auntie!” Beatrice’s eyes drop to where her niece is currently holding one of her colorful plates above her head, showing the perfect round chocolate chips pancakes, “Look!”

“Oh Bibi! It’s amazing you did an incredible job!!” she smiles, grabbing the plate from her hands to place it on the table, watching her boyfriend carry another one with a lot more pancakes than the ones Bibi’s had. He smiles sweetly at her, kissing her cheek before placing it down on the table alongside the others. 

Beatrice smiles back, placing Bianca on the chair before she walks closer to him to grab the mugs from his hand, “You don’t have to do everything.” she whispers, “It’s Christmas Eve, I can do something too.”

“You already are here, looking pretty.” he murmurs, leaning closer to press their lips together in a sweet kiss, smiling against her mouth when she giggles, “Plus, I felt like it’d be a great Christmas’ Eve surprise, don’t you think?” Beatrice laughs, tilting her head to the side as she agrees, but telling him she could at least grab everything else for breakfast while he enjoys the pancakes with Bibi. He agrees only because he was starving and Beatrice promised to join them soon, placing some fresh strawberries on the table next to the pancakes.

She watches as Bibi grabs the maple syrup dispenser and moves her arm in a circle so the sugary concoction lands on a spiral on top of her pancakes. Beatrice only smiles when Bianca jabs the side of her fork onto the pancakes to cut them, then stabs it - just like her father does, figures - to bring it to her mouth. She is dancing from side to side, humming happily while chewing, “I think they were approved, Roos.” 

The pilot chuckles as he sips his coffee, clearly happy to see the five years old enjoying herself, “They aren’t called the best pancakes ever for nothing.” he shrugs casually, giving Beatrice a look from across the table, “As you well know.” his girlfriend’s eyes widened, moving from him to Bianca in a ‘do not start this’ expression, but he just shrugged again, too busy drinking his coffee to reply to her.

Beatrice chuckles in disbelief, shaking her head at him before she too has her own pancakes and coffee, while she unlocks her phone to send Leo a message that everything was fine and that Bianca had a great night. She knew her brother wouldn’t reply in…a few hours, no doubt he and Cyn decided to oversleep since Bianca was out of the house.

After breakfast she thanks Rooster again by kissing him, cupping his face in her hands before she pulls back, “That was a great way to start the morning, right Bibi?” her niece was still licking her lips clean of maple syrup as she handed the dirty plate up to her aunt so she could place it in the sink.

“You are both welcome. I’ll wash the dishes.” he says, then turns to Beatrice, dropping his eyes down her curves, “You can pay me back later.`` The subtle flick of his brow going up followed by the smirk on his lips was enough to make Beatrice feel feverish. Again she feared he knew something was going to happen, maybe he found where she hid everything and was now teasing her about it. 

“Oh…I…will.” she wished her voice didn’t come out so nervous, so she played it off by kissing him again before telling Bibi they needed to brush their teeth since Rooster was going to be busy. So taking care of her niece was a great distraction. While Bianca was busy she tried to be careful and check the armoire to see if her duffel bag was still in the same spot as before, untouched and still zipped the way she left, with the two zippers facing the armoire’s doors.

She breathed out a sigh of relief, “Thank God.” she mutters, rushing back inside the bathroom so she could wash Bianca and then take a shower herself once she got busy downstairs watching her favorite morning cartoons. Beatrice walked back down with a clean and no longer dinosaur Bianca in her arms to see that the air mattress was now back to it’s thin folded form and Bradley looked up with his hands on her hips. “Hey, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I figured it’d be easier.” he smiles, shoving the empty mattress inside its bag as Bianca settles onto the couch with her aunt turning the tv for her. He’s still holding the bag in his hands as he walks past the coffee table close to the stairs, “Are you going to put it back?”

She drops her eyes towards it, “Oh, not yet. I don’t want to disturb Bianca and her morning show.” she wouldn’t move it back, she needed the space for later that night. Honestly the more she thought about it the anxious she got, what if it didn’t work? What if it was too much? What if she just freaked out before doing anything? No, she couldn’t think about it, not like that,  “I’m going to change so we can take Jojo on a walk with Bibi, is that okay?”

“Yeah, of course babe.” Rooster replies, following Beatrice up to the loft and looking back to where Bianca was focused on watching tv, petting Jolene who lied next to her on the couch. With the coast clear, so to speak, he drops the bag to the floor and wraps his arms around Beatrice’s waist, immediately surprising her. The brunette then chuckles when he lowers his face to her neck, pressing a series of tiny kisses on the slowly flushing skin until they reach the curve of her jaw, “Mmm,sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

“As long as Bibi doesn’t see it we’re fine.” she whispers back, turning around to hug his neck and kiss him fully, moaning sweetly against his mouth, “Mm, Brad,” she gasps out when his mouth goes back to kiss her jawline, “I have to change, I can’t go out like this.”

“I know, just give me a few more seconds.” he murmurs, his teeth and tongue pressing against a part of her jaw that her brown hair covered and there he marked her skin. The hickey slowly bloomed to a bright red ,”There, now you can change.” Beatrice slapped his arm in retaliation but smiled nonetheless, blushing a fierce shade of crimson before she disappeared in her bathroom and he goes back downstairs to keep Bianca company, the little girl explaining to him that her favorite show was ‘Dr.Chimp and the Zoo Crew’, which consists of a chimpanzee doctor,an elephant secretary and a giraffe nurse who helped him cure the other animals in the zoo while the humans are away.

It was weirdly endearing. And had catchy songs. Not to mention Bianca explained every episode to him in detail. When he saw Bea coming back down with her usual jeans, white top and flannel, he stood to his feet and switched places with his girlfriend. But before he did, just as he passed by her, he leaned closer and asked, “Why did you let your hair down?” he teases, earning a glare from Beatrice to move even more hair to cover her neck,”Are you hiding something?”

“Bradley,” she warns, holding back a yelp when he taps her butt before going up the stairs. She hears his quiet chuckling get fainter until the bathroom’s door clicks shut and she sits next to her niece. Thankfully Bianca was too concentrated on her show to notice anything else, singing along with the songs as her aunt crossed her legs by the knee waiting for Bradley’s return.

She tries to not get too nervous, nor bounce her leg the more she thinks about her plan for later tonight, worrying that maybe he’d be too tired after spending a long time at her parents’ house or…something. She was worrying a lot already and part of her brain was telling her to back out before it was too late, before she made a fool of herself.

But no, she had to fight back. She could do it. She could and she would. And she’d be great while doing it too.

Beatrice’s eyes travel back to Rooster walking down the stairs, fixing his tight long sleeved white v neck top and Hawaiian shirt once he reaches the bottom. He gives her a smile, “Ready?” she nods and turns to Bianca who immediately lets out a squeal of joy, sliding out of the couch with Jolene close to her as they rush to the front door. Beatrice grabs Jolene’s leash and her house keys, turning off the tv and walking towards her niece and dog.

It was a really good morning, a bit chilly, but overall clear. She slid Bianca’s cow patterned fluffy jacket on her niece’s arms,zipping it halfway so the little girl could remove it if she so wanted. Bianca asked to lead Jolene, which Beatrice said yes of course and even if Jolene didn’t need her leash, she knew that her niece would still like to do that. Jolene was very patient with Bianca as well, sometimes stopping so the little girl could catch up or holding her back if she thought that she was in danger.

Beatrice and Rooster watched from a short distance as the two walked, Bianca chatting with Jolene about whatever came into her mind and the pitbull would sometimes ‘boof’ out in response. “She’s so cute,” he says, looking down at the brunette who was hugging her arms around herself, “Are you cold?”

“Aren’t you?” she asks, taking note of his outfit and wondering how was it that he could handle the weather like that, the wind was freezing “I don’t know how you do that, it’s so thin Roos.” she says as she pinches the sleeve of his undertop, feeling her fingers rub against the fabric.

“This is actually pretty warm…also I’m from Virginia, baby. It’s a lot colder there.” he adds with a sweet smile, wrapping his arm around her waist to bring her closer, “But I can warm you up if you want me to, we just have to wait a little bit.”

Beatrice almost choked on her spit, covering the cough with a nervous laugh. He doesn’t know anything, she said to herself, there’s no way he knows, “Oh,I’ll hold you up on that.” she says, trying to appear confident and hoping she was doing a good job. “Oh, I almost forgot,” she pulls out her phone. “I need to call my mom. See if she needs help.” which honestly, if she knew her mother which she did, she’d say no and to not worry. 

Beatrice waits until they reach a park to call her mother.Bianca sits down on the grass with Jolene next to her while her aunt and Bradley sit on a bench right behind the two. Beatrice crossed her legs by the ankles as she waits for her mother to pick up, “Hi mamma-”

“Hi nonna!” Bianca shouts once she hears who Bea is talking to, then turns back to placing pieces of grass on top of Jolene’s head as if it was a crown.

“I just called to see if you needed help?” Bradley could hear her mother’s tone go from caring to questioning then to worried, “No, no! I just wanted to know if you needed help, I know there’s a lot of things you are doing– yes, I know mamma. I know you’ve been doing this for a while.” Beatrice sighs, rolling her eyes as she leans back on the bench, Bradley’s arm draped around her shoulders makes it easier for her to hold his hand, “Hmhm, yes I know. I know. No, Brad isn’t allergic to fish of any sort, nor seafood or nuts. I told you that already, mamma.”

He chuckles softly as she talks to her over worried mother, feeling warm inside just that her family wanted to make sure he could enjoy the feast with them without issues. It was really nice and he was glad they approved of him. Honestly, he had no idea what to expect. His knowledge of Italian food comes from Beatrice and some of the stuff he had as a child, he had no idea what to expect but he had a feeling he’d like it a lot. Beatrice finishes the call with a sigh, “Does she need help?”

“No, she does not.” She laughs gently, “She hates when we call to ask if she needs help but…she’s not as young as she used to be even if she looks nothing like it…but she said everything is great and all we have to do is get there safely.” she goes back to holding his hand, caressing the sides and back of it, touching each knuckle with the pad of her thumb, “I think you’ll like it…it’s going to get very loud.”

“Louder than the Hard Deck?” she nods immediately, giving him an apologetic smile, “...well, I can handle it.”

-

Beatrice was quick to travel to her parents house to drop the gifts, from both her and Bradley, before Bianca noticed anything since she was napping back at her house with her lovely boyfriend telling her he’d keep an eye. With that out of the way, the two showered and changed to their outfits for that night, Bradley was still wearing a long sleeved top but this time he had a light army green jacket on after Beatrice told him to ‘put on something heavier’ since the temperature dropped a lot more, jeans and boots. 

As for Beatrice, she was wearing high waisted black and white plaid pants, a white turtle neck top, black boots with just enough heel to announce her way when she walked and a black windbreaker. Her hair was down, falling over her shoulders with her lips painted that red he liked so much and a neutral colored eyeshadow, “You look stunning.” were his first words when she showed up, his girlfriend laughing before grabbing her purse, “Doesn’t she, Bibi?”

Bianca, who was wearing a gray knit dress with cow printed pants underneath, smiled in agreement, holding Rooster’s hand “Yeah, auntie! You look stunnin’!!”

“Thank you, you two,” she taps her thigh twice so Jolene leaps out of the couch - the pitbull was also wearing a colorful Christmas sweater with Rudolph on the back- to go to the front door, “You two look great as well.” they all walk out so Beatrice can lock the door, Bianca’s seat was still inside the Bronco thankfully so all she had to do was put her in there.

Jolene sits next to Bianca once she’s buckled onto the seat and Beatrice turns to walk to the passenger side, Bradley doing the same on the driver’s. She asks Bianca one more time if she’s okay, she gives her aunt a thumbs up before she goes back to petting Jolene, “Alright, we can go.” Beatrice grins, “I can tell you the way.”

“I’d appreciate that a lot.” he smiles, giving her another look, “You really look amazing.” his girlfriend smiles shyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear with her eyes turning to him, “You always do.” Her cheeks immediately turned red after he said it and he smirked in triumph at her reaction.

The drive to Beatrice parent’s home was at least a twenty minutes ride, thankfully the amount of cars outside was minimal since it was Christmas’ Eve. She forgot how beautiful Little Italy was during Christmas time, the colorful lights that adorned the buildings and the constant Christmas songs being played around them brought back so many memories, memories that got stronger when she they got closer to her parents’ house, her siblings cars already parked in front and on the opposite street and she could hear Rita Pavone’s Viva La Pappa col Pomodoro being played from the inside.

Bradley parks the Bronco right behind Guillermo’s SUV, turning his eyes to the colorful Christmas lights climbing up the walls and railing of the Schiavoni’s house, a snowman wearing sunglasses and with a ‘suntan’ decorated the front yard, holding up a bottle of sunscreen in his hand. He chuckles as he walks out, waiting for Beatrice to pick up Bianca and pull her out, Jolene’s body vibrating with excitement as she notices where they were. Beatrice offers him her free hand since the other arm is busy holding Bianca close to her chest, “You know,” he says, looking around the neighborhood and hearing the song coming from the inside, “I think I guess where your decoration needs come from.”

Bea laughs, walking him up the front steps of the Schiavoni’s house - where Jolene was patiently waiting with her tail swiping back and forth rapidly. He could hear the voices from her family members inside, the sound of family was loud and clear…emphasis on loud. There was beautiful garland that surrounded the front door with red and silver balls, tiny angels and even tiny bells, while the wreath right on top of the stained glass followed the same red and silver palette, it also had a large red bow at the bottom. 

His girlfriend leaned Bianca closer to the doorbell, the conversation inside didn’t stop when the little blonde girl pressed the button, but they could hear and see someone approaching. There was the sound of the door unlocking before Beatrice’s mother appeared, gasping in surprise, “Oh! You two came!”

“Nonna!” Bianca was almost climbing out of her aunt’s arms to hug her grandmother, who immediately picked her up and kissed her cheeks, complimenting her outfit before telling her her parents were already outside. She also greeted Jolene, scratching the pitbull’s behind before she scampered inside following Bianca.

Claudia then looks up at the two with her hands clasped in pure happiness “Oh I’m so glad you two came, come on in, come on in.” she stepped aside to let the young couple enter, Bradley’s eyes immediately darting to the other decorations around them. Yeah, he could see where Beatrice got it from, “Here, take off your coats.” Claudia was quick to remove them before they could stop her, pausing as she tried to find space in the coat hanger - that already seemed full- but somehow managed to squeeze them in there. When she turned back around she engulfed her daughter in a hug, kissing both of her cheeks then her forehead, “Oh, I’m so happy you two finally came.” She turns to Bradley, who just leans closer so the older woman pecks his cheeks as well, cupping his face so she could kiss his forehead just like she did with Beatrice “Come, come, everyone is already waiting.”

Bradley felt so warm just by that greeting. It was…so motherly and he hadn’t felt something like that in so long. 

He thanked Claudia, who ushered them further inside the house, Beatrice grabbing his hand to lead them to where the others were. The walls were adorned with so many pictures, weddings, birthdays, Celebrations he couldn’t name it and obviously, Christmases. He couldn’t pay a lot of attention because Beatrice tugged him down a hallway where the voices were getting louder and louder, the music - an Italian song he couldn’t recognize - being sung along. They walked past an office where he could see the glimpse of a piano that shone with the colorful lights outside the window it stood in front of.

With the voices and music getting louder, he felt a bit of unease the closer they got. It wasn’t until Beatrice opens the double doors that separate the house from the outside that he finally lets out a quiet breath of surprise. The backyard was large, very large and surrounded with plants, they stepped out right on the patio with large gray stone floors and a wooden cover that had garlands surrounding the pillars that held it up. 

The said patio had a small bar on the left where a few bottles rested alongside shot glasses and a speaker that was responsible for the music being played right now.  In the middle of the patio was a large ,already made and decorated,dark brown table and surrounding it was Beatrice’s family, with her father at the head.

There were other seats around the table itself where he assumed her nephews and nieces were seated, alongside two pitbulls who were now playing with Jolene on the grassy part of the backyard. The conversation stopped for a second before a wave of greetings reached them, with her siblings standing up to hug them, Guillermo’s massive estature made Bradley a bit uneasy when he leaned down to give him a friendly hug and a pat on the back. He met their spouses back at the wedding so it took a while for them to finally sit down and join the others.

“Finally.” it was Michael who announced once they sat down, “Thought you two were going to take the scenic route.” he pushed himself to his feet, “You want a drink, Brad?” 

Rooster looks around to check if anyone else was -they were, all of them - and nods, ‘Yeah, sure, I wouldn’t mind it.”

“My man. Gonna get you some whisky.” Michael however sends a look to his father, who nods as he too lifts the brandy glass to his lips to take a sip. Bradley met Beatrice’s nephews and nieces, with the boys being very curious about him when Bianca told them that he was a pilot! Bradley thanks Michael when he places the glass in front of him Beatrice lifting a glass of red wine to sip slowly as her boyfriend savored the bourbon.

Oh, that was good whisky. And it tasted amazing too? He felt Beatrice’s hand interlacing his from under the table as the conversation returned, Guillermo lowering the volume once Dean Martin started playing so they could talk without screaming at each other. It was really nice, they were all very inclusive to him, asking his opinion and sharing information Bea hadn’t before.

It was… really good. He hasn’t felt like this during Christmas time in a long while. He felt very welcome by everyone. Even Beatrice’s father, whose role was to be the main host alongside his wife, would ask if Bradley needed anything. Honestly he was just happy to be drinking high quality whisky with his girlfriend and her family who genuinely seemed glad to have him there. Her mother calls for her and her sisters to help inside, “Be right back.” she whispers, kissing his cheek and standing up, disappearing into the house with her sisters in tow. 

He looks back at her father who is giving him a little smile, one he knows isn’t malicious but instead he looks proud. Very proud. “Be prepared, ragazzo,” he says in his thick Italian accent, “I hope you left your stomach empty enough.”

He knows from Beatrice that there will be a lot of food, he’s ready for that…what he wasn’t ready for was that the amount of food was even more than he imagined. The talking coming from Beatrice’s mother and sisters surrounded them, each woman had a dish in hand, setting it on the table, pushing some of the red burning candles away to give it space. Bradley tried to cover his surprise the best he could, but try as he might he wasn’t able to.

There was so much food.

Rafael chuckled watching the pilot’s wonder at the variation of dishes set in front of him, his sons were too busy arguing amongst themselves about a game of scopa they had to play before the night was over to help him, so he took it on himself, “Ragazzo,” he calls quietly, making Bradley turn his head to him, “This here, is linguini with clams and mussels.” he points to the large wooden bowl, “The one next to it is baked swordfish with lemon, then we have calamari and olive salad.”

“We used to have the antipasti.” comes Beatrice’s voice from his left, sitting down next to him once the table is set, “But over time we found out that we could skip this part, sorry to my ancestors.” She giggles, pushing herself forward with her chair as her mother gives one last look to make sure everything was just right then sits down next to her husband. 

“It’s so much. And it smells so good.” he comments, still looking at everything with boyish wonder. Beatrice smiles, squeezing his hand a bit as her father cleared his throat. He was the patriarch, so he was the one who should be served first but as much as her mother liked to do so, he wanted to get the food himself. There was a short timed bickering between the two before Rafael grabbed a bit of everything and sat down.

With a wave of his hand, he signaled they could finally eat. Bradley’s plate disappeared before he could stop it, with Claudia scooping a nice amount of the pasta and a thick chunk of swordfish to put in his plate, “There you go, Bradley.” she smiles, placing two lemon wedges to the side before sitting down.

“Thank you.” he says sweetly, while his girlfriend just smiles at his surprised face when he turns to look at her. Bea nods to where her mother was, her expectant expression waiting for Bradley to take a bite wasn’t subtle at all “She’s waiting for me to eat it.”

“She is, and she’ll ask you if you need more even if you weren’t even half done.” she says, twirling her pasta on a fork, “So, I wouldn’t keep her waiting.”

[charcubed]

Some thoughts on The Winchesters after episode 5, and on self-reflection, and what it may tell us about Dean’s situation:

This was originally written as a thread on Twitter, which is (unfortunately) where I have historically done most of my meta writing. (Here is a collection of my Twitter posts about this show, including a few long meta threads.) I’m trying to get better about crossposting to tumblr ASAP when it's manageable.

All this to say that if this reads like it’s written in bite-sized chunks… that’s why. Also, I am writing this at midnight from an iPad lol.

So… This “Dean all the way down” show, if you will. In every episode of this show, its main characters highlight important things about Dean’s life and his relationships with others, as well as the unfinished parts of his story. Here’s a handy refresher, courtesy of my friend Matt.

I am compelled by the consistency of this (to the point of hypothesizing that Lata will be the main Dean mirror of the week in ep6).

I am also compelled by what is shaping up to be one of many consistencies in not only the themes but also the PLOTS of these episodes:

In every episode so far other than the pilot (I think?), someone is taken and trapped physically and/or mentally. Their freedom requires examining who they are as a person and what’s important to them, and/or examining who they are in relation to who they care about, mostly via reflective versions.

2: John, taken by La Tunda who punishes disobedient children & masquerades as Millie

3: Mary, taken by Bori Baba who lures you in with what you want most

4: John & Carlos, taken by a god of “destiny” who wants John to be like him

5: Mary, trapped in her mind by the Akrida

They’re all different situations, but at their core the key to freedom in the plot is always some form of self-reflection.

It’s making me wonder, because… well, we’re explicitly dealing with a narrative that’s cyclical, yes? We know that already, and the show’s not shy about it…

Cycles of violence + parents & children, on a micro level (Winchester family) and macro level (forces wanting to mold you into something you don’t want to be, or control you; Chuck/God as Father, destiny, and now Akrida).

But is it also a cycle in regards to this self-reflection?

Metaphorically, yes. This is what Dean is doing here and it’s why the characters are continuously acting as rotating mirrors for him. But what I’m beginning to wonder is if we’re meant to start taking it as hints to being literal for Dean, the way it is for the characters.

The characters repeatedly participate in self-reflection to free themselves from literal traps, and that self-reflections acts as reflection of Dean. What does this maybe tell us about what’s LITERALLY happening to Dean? Can we start piecing together that he’s trapped somewhere and uncovering/telling this story is key to his freedom?

🎶 Like a circle in a spiral

Like a wheel within a wheel

Never ending or beginning

On an ever spinning reel 🎶

They keep being trapped in places where they have to face aspects of who they are, who they love, and what haunts them. Maybe that’s the literal situation Dean could be in (fake Heaven trap?) and is part of the reason for the story he’s telling. Examining himself to break free.

I don’t know how front-facing in terms of the plot this may be. It could remain metaphorical. or be an extra-narrative reference about the prequel being its own thing but also a quasi stepping stone to a sequel.

But Dean being Trapped is, at this point, feeling pretty implicit.

Combine this with how mirror and reflective imagery is starting to visually pop up a little bit more.

And also combine it with all of the ways Tony’s story parallels Jack’s, and what that could imply about a “Chuck won” through-line… but I’m not getting into that tonight lol.

I am very intrigued. Everything about this is circular, and talking about one aspect kind of tips you into talking about another, which is FASCINATING story construction. So I’m sorry if I repeated myself here!

It’s reminiscent of a triskelion, naturally, a la the necklace in ep2.

Calling it quits for tonight because I am TIRED. Bottom line:

The repeated implication is that Dean is Trapped and doing self-reflection to try to break free. How literal that may or may not in terms of where/when he is remains to be seen, but… it’s feeling more and more pointed.

And I know I’m one of the foremost Chuck won preachers, okay, but I do try not to let it color my view of this show too strongly. I can’t help it that the material feeds me at every turn ¯\_(ツ)_/¯