#AUGH genuinely so happy with how this came out

[edenkyubiko]

BIRTHDAY APPRECIATION POST ‼️‼️🎂

Let me @ the lovely people first before I get sappy!

@tw1nkee28 @doodling-doodle @sw11ft @imakosideas @olibird @pampanope

IF I'M FORGETTING/DON'T HAVE YOUR @ PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

AUGH, I CAN'T ADD THEM ALL BUT I TRIED MY BEST

now for the sappy mushy lovey dovey part

I just want to start by saying how incredibly thankful I am to Pam for creating this amazing server. It came into my life at a time when I really needed it. I had been feeling out of place and alone, even in some of the other groups I was part of. But when I joined here, I immediately felt surrounded by people who share the same interests and hobbies as me. And what makes it even better is that we can talk about anything!

I've met some truly wonderful people, and you all have helped me grow so much as an artist. For the longest time, I struggled with developing my character and writing, but being around all of you, watching everyone create and seeing how we lift each other up with love and support — even for the silliest things — has made my heart swell. It’s something I wasn’t used to before. I’ve never received such kind words or encouragement for my work, and hearing them from you all genuinely makes my day every single time.

Just being able to talk or text with you guys while I’m working on something or playing a game means more to me than I can put into words. You have no idea how much those little moments matter to me. I honestly wish I could give you all the biggest hug.

And the fact that you all went out of your way to create these masterpieces for me... I’m honestly baffled. I’m not used to receiving gifts, so it’s been hard for me to learn how to accept them, but I was genuinely getting teary-eyed when people stayed up until midnight just to wish me a happy birthday. Birthdays have never been a big deal to me — I always treated them like any other day — but you all made this one truly unforgettable!

I'm glad that my 21st will forever be a core memory!

Now....just you wait :3

I have many things in store for everyone

[narsh-poptarts]

The Hex

woodcut of my MoTW character !!!!! really happy with how this came out ^^

some struggling process under the cut

EDIT: had to revamp this whole thing, hopefully it shows up now

[inkabelledesigns]

Sorry for coming in so late! Can I get a snippet from Searching the Depths? Or Drew's Last Hope? Thank you!

No need to apologize Nemo! I'm happy to see you. ^^ Hmm, I've been debating what piece would best suit your ask, but I think I'd like to give you a snippet of Drew's Last Hope.

So, context: Drew's Last Hope is the tentative title for the BATDR section of Searching the Depth's story. I consider The Heart of the Studio to be mostly BATIM, Richard the Keeper to be the interlude between BATIM and BATDR, and then we get Drew's Last Hope. Here's a snippet with Audrey and Bella, from inside of Lord Amok's prison. (Programming note, this was heavily inspired by Hermes in Epic: The Musical.)

The sound of slow applause echoed from the back of the chamber. “I have to say, I underestimated you.” 

Audrey jerked her head around, the voice surrounding her, but she couldn’t place where it was coming from. “Who’s there?!” “An ally, if you’ll have one.” A gleeful cackle pierced the air, as the candlelight danced across the rocky walls of her prison. Forming together, a shadowy figure pried itself out of the wall. It was none other than the shepherd she’d run into before. 

“You! What are you-how are you-” She stammered. 

“Shhhh.” The shepherd laughed as she sauntered over, putting a hand on Audrey’s shoulder as she put a finger over her own mouth. “My dear sheep, we wouldn’t want them to hear us, now would we?” She giggled. “Did you really think they could keep us contained?” 

“I-augh.” Audrey shook her head and tried to catch her breath. “How did you get in here?” 

“Took the back route. The front door would’ve been faster, but uh, I don’t think Amok would’ve liked that.” She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “What, you’ve never Flowed through a wall before?” 

“That…was Flow?” Audrey looked her up and down, her eyes scrunched together in doubt, and maybe just a little bit of fear. “But…why? How can it do that?” “Simple. We don’t like staying cooped up. Gotta learn to get away.” She smirked. “Porter really didn’t tell you anything, did he?” “No…” Audrey sighed and looked to the ground. She closed her eyes and shook her head, clenching her fists. “He was off pretty quickly, and I didn’t think to ask…how do you know him?” “Oh, we were roommates, once upon a time.” She leaned against the wall, resting a bare foot against its stone. “We took him in when things got hectic. He helped us find supplies, we helped him stay alive.” 

“So…you’re friends then?” Audrey cocked her head to the side curiously. 

“Something like that.” She smirked. Somehow it felt less cocky and more…genuinely playful. “Porter’s practically family at this point. Then again, there’s very few people here I wouldn’t say that about…” She looked to the ground and sighed, shaking her head. “I know every lost one, searcher, and toon like the back of my hand. But I don’t know you. And I’ll be frank with you, Audrey.” She stuck her hands in her pockets as she looked up at her, ever so slightly menacing. “Your first impression left something to be desired. What’s your story?” 

“My…story?” Audrey took a step back, her arms slightly raised, as if ready to defend herself.” 

The shepherd nodded. “You aren’t like anything I’ve ever seen. You came in here and immediately started thrusting souls back into the puddles. And, well, if I’m to be brutally honest, you’re making my life harder.” The shepherd narrowed her eyes. “Why are you here? Were you sent to torture us further? Or are you really that unaware of the power you hold?” 

[leadenn]

OH YEAH!? YOU WANT MY THOUGHTS? YOU WANT MY THOUGHTS!? (I did that AND some, oops)

Absolutely adore your fic front and back. The entire concept had me intrigued, and once I started reading, I was OBSESSED. Legit, I would talk to my friends about it, talk to my shower, talk to my Twitter mutuals about it.ALSO ALSO I adore how you write monologues, it's so funny and so descriptive, makes me feel things good things. Every single one of them you write so well, like YES he would say that! I see a lot of Raph and Leo being writen so off, like their manorisms are so yes, I could see him doing that. Casey is so cool and I adore his relationship with Abby, big bro and lil sis, he would give the world for his sister and she would love the world for him. You feel me? Oh and I love how all of them just were like "yes Abby is my favorite little sister, I would kill for her", so fucking obsessed. Casey and Abby have gone through so much shit and I'm so happy for them being around people who love and care for them. Leatherhead and Casey and Abby and Mikey are so sweet. Leatherhead is also a sweetheart, he's so nice and the way you write him makes me melttt, I become a pile of mush 🫠Mikey and Him are soooo sweet too and I swear to god you have changed my ENTIRE perspective on those two as a ship its incredible, like before I ddint even THINK that much about it, but here I am in my notes app with a full on page of how to implement leatherhead in my au AND in my fanfic, the note title is legit called 💥THAMK UOU LEADENN💥 also just read the newest chapter came back to edit this, YAY! FUCK YEAHH!! Those twoooo OUGHHHH!! The inner monologues you write are so fuckin good, like I can read that thing good without getting confused and having to re read, I understand it because you explain well! The scenes play out good and are incredibly funny or incredibly sad or both. Like holy shit. Also the way you write and hint has me going "WHAT? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??? WHA WAIT WHA??" like I end up shocked eyes open. I also enjoy your writing so much I usually don't venture off into the collection of other stories unless they still include my favorite character but with how you write I just love everyone so much I'm like eating that shit up, full course meal gourmet food 5 stars. I know you get a lot of Mikey stuff so I left him for last on how much I fucking LOVE HIM HES SO COOL like mental stuff aside his one liners and his kick ass brain lines are awesome oh my god he comes off so damn cool like daaqmnnn who made you king of Antarctica, lord of coolness. I love his inner monologues so much, its so funny and so real like, "Yeah he underestimated how much of DICK the forest would be." Had me HOWLIBG, first thing in and I get hit in tge face with another real as hell Mikey line. That was actually one of the things that keeps me reading, what drew me in when I first found your amazing story. He'd just started spitting facts and a gnarly backstory and in my head I was like "ohhhh shittt!!" I get so excited every time an update comes out, goddamn chapter 5??? I am so goddamn proud of you for reaching 61 CHAPTERS AUGH I can't stress this enough you are doing AMAZING, you're writing so much and it's terrific every single time, every single comment, kudo, fanart, just everything, you deserve it. You're so awesome-sauce! I think I would bite the dust if I wrote as much as you, as much as I love it I am already struggling with getting past 5k words. Anyways, your writing genuinely is my coffee in the morning especially when I've run out of coffee and my phone is the only thing that morning to bring me joy. Also you intimidate me, most fanfic writers do but the moment you interacted with an account, boss music started playing in my head

I think I'll combust if I proof read this so before the guy in my head backs out I'm just gonna send it 👍😩👍

*pukes in joy*

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[suzannahnatters]

MOON LOVERS: SCARLET HEART RYEO has deaded me and I've never been so happy about it

EUN!!!!

I'm not okay.

of course So was always going to make this choice, and I suppose it's hard to just opt out of a system when you and everyone you care about it trapped inside it, but there tragedy is definitely HERE

oh heck no, did he just lie to her? after promising he wouldn't?? and when the real thing he used as an excuse was a genuine point of conflict that could have served the writers just as well???

everything was going so WELL

Jung has no damns left to give either :3

big fan of the way nobody's wearing pastel robes anymore, they're all in black and guyliner

cept Baek Ah, please stay alive my child

dying over the internal thematic resonance here. So wants to be king so he won't be someone's killer anymore. but if you take the throne you have to be willing to throw everyone else away. And that's what he's already done to our girl, as happened to Lady Oh before her

taking the throne is the leading cause of insanity in this kingdom, looks like

ok they actually resigned me to the Break Her Heart To Save Her bit by downplaying it a whole lot and justifying it pretty well. it's still not my favourite & it IS cruddy of him to lie but also the king IS very actively using her to control him.

most of the time this trope happens I'm like "in what universe does this even make sense" but in this case, well it's a stupid decision but one I can actually imagine making

So explains why he wants the throne: at first he just wanted to protect the people he loved but now he wants to FIGHT THE SYSTEM, YEAH

*cough* or make things better for the normies

she's 100% Ophelia but he's better than Hamlet so I support him tbh

it's on, even Baek Ah is in armour now

not so evil queen gets the thesis statement: you must throw away love in order to gain the world

aaaaaaaaaaaAAaaaaAAAAAaaahhh

did...did our girl poison king Guyliner (no but it was convenient yes?)

what was in the letter

our girl getting to be the first to acclaim the new king yessss

well HECK the throne-induced insanity is setting in quick this time

I repent, I repent, he should have listened to our girl T_T

astrologer is Concerned and so am I

I'm so happy for Rebel Princess getting to stab someone at last

augh Wook very correctly points out to our girl that she's stuck by So as he makes the same decision Wook did

and then she retorts that at least he was honest about it with her

well played and game over

oh no I knew it wasn't good that she was clutching her heart

the sheer stress of the lifestyle is getting to her...the way it did to Lady Oh

and our girl's protege Chae Ryung is in love with a prince, it's all starting another tragic cycle huargh

fascinating how the back half is contextualising the show's treatment of the original king.

I hate that it went easy on him, but it quickly started to be apparent that the king is similarly caught in the system as everyone else. one person wanting to change isn't enough.

this show is so much more complex than I gave it credit for!

well I have a three page list of Reasons Why Marrying Princess Smirks-a-Lot is NOT Good Realpolitik

oh the pain is ON now our boy is making a whole parade of bad decisions and the show...isn't letting him off for them?

like, it's showing him yielding to the pressure of the system but also our girl takes a good long hard look at him and...

is this show going to Do The Thing

couples who pledge love over this swimming pool never end well, goodbye Baek Ah

no this is almost worse, Baek Ah gets to live in the most heartbroken manner possible

meanwhile So is gradually losing the bits of his humanity one by one T_T

SHRIEK

Jung just came to get our girl in the dumbest way possible, this is why you do not ask the general to rescue you from the deadly court

WOOK, DID YOU JUST DO SOMETHING LEGITIMATELY UNSELFISH

oh the sad king lurking in Jung's garden all eaten up with jealousy is the BEST THING and totally what he deserves

oh I LOVE this - our girl makes sure Chae Ryung's last letter gets to Won ahhhhh

the actor for Wook has just done an amazing job of visibly aging from 20 to 50 before our eyes, and he's done it all with facial expressions and body language

our girl has made it back YESS

and left history a little better in her wake

that rates as a happy ending in my book

THEY DID THE THING

I NEVER THOUGHT THEY WOULD BUT THEY DID

IT'S OPHELIA IN ANCIENT GORYEO

look idk what I expected from a story about a modern girl going back in time to charm 8 cute princes but it sure wasn't a brutal Shakespearean tragedy about power corrupting even the truest love

10/10 perfect ending, no notes. Bittersweet, agonising, fitting, PERFECT.

review to come

[universecorp]

OH MY GOD TEMPTATION? IS AMAZING? ur writing is genuinely so good and fairy txt ADCTVYGBHN SUCH A FUN CREATIVE CONCEPPTTT and and i enjoyed the new chap so much!! hopefully yn warms up to them more soon ANDD GOES TO MAKNAES COLLEGE cuz im curious af!! u wrote all of their personalities super accurately too augh and i love how they all have such fun powers as fairies (but also horny constantly from the looks of things LOLL) im rlly looking forward ot the next chapter dear author <33 pls keep up the amazing work ☹️🙏

Thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Also I'm so happy that I got their personalities to come across well, and that you enjoy the concept! Me and Jae talked it about it for a while after sugar rush came out and I honestly couldn't get my mind off the concept. I drew a lot of inspiration from the mv as well as the daydream version of the album and the tinker bell movies, which is why I decided to give them talents/ powers. I'm working hard on editing and creating new parts and I'll be uploading more very soon! Thank you again for the reading! - Tay <3

[cescalr]

For the fandom ask, the mcu (also hiiiii cesca, it's been a minute I miss you 🫶)

Yo!!!!!!! ♡ it HAS been way too long. We need to chat way more often!!

Ftr it's been so long since I last did a marvel watch (discounting Deadpool and Wolverine, which I saw literally yesterday lol) so I have trouble remembering some of this stuff!

Give me a fandom and I'll tell you:

Favorite Male Character: Tony Stark!! Have a fanvid:

Favorite Female Character: Natalia Alianovna Romanova babeyyy. Have a fanvid:

Least Favorite Character: dude idk. Like obviously I hate characters like Stane. But if we're going with 'favourite still, but least', I guess... Steve???

Favorite Ship: hmmmm don't really have a marvel otp, though I like a lot of marvel ships! Moon Knight had a good one, for ex. If were talking about things i've read fic for, I think sambucky probably counts? Like I read more Tony fics with ships in them because My Guy!! And i dont really care all that much abt the ship other than Making My Guy Happy. But I do genuinely enjoy Sambucky for it's own merit (well, i mean. It also happens to make two of my guys happy... er, ignoring angst fics. So. Still.) Sambucky probably!

Favorite Friendship: hMmmm idk. Really enjoyed shang-chi when it came out especially for the focal platonic m&f friendship. Really enjoyed d&w the other day for it's titular dynamic. As an og though I can't stray from the path. My favourites are Tony & Nat, and I greatly enjoy how complicated their friendship was bc of all the shit that kept happening and all the decisions they kept making that weren't in-line with each other and it was just so messy, but they genuinely really cared. Are you alright? Always. Augh. Don't have any vids for them :( fic though. Fic.

Favorite Quote: .... I barely remeber any. I. Sieve brain!!! Brain of a sieve.

Worst Character Death (if any): Nat's :( was so :/ . But... you know, at least it fit yhe narrative; worst one(s) was probably What If repeatedly shoving Tony's corpse in my face in the least fun ways possible. Why the fuck did they do that. He just kept losing :( refused to give him a single win :(

This made me so happy you have no idea Moment

PEGGY CARTER CAPTAIN BRITIAN MY GIRL PEGGY CARTER THE CAPTAIN BRITAIN!!! Oh, captain, my captain ♡ (literally I am English. Baddass lady spy superhero? Collecting those like playing cards. My favourite thing. Close runner up is captain my captain Sam Wilson. Epic.)

Saddest Moment: burst into tears during My Guy's funeral, for obvious reasons (also I have been to... five? Funerals?? So I. Yk. Death is an acquaintance of mine. I dont like him very much... possibly why endgame hit me so hard in the solar plexus.)

Favorite Location: I suck at paying attention to these things. Probably Asgard's palace actually. It's just really pretty!!! Bonus least favourite (as in hated) location: Siberian bunker. Nothing good happens in hydra bunkers.

[trifoliate-undergrowth]

Beyond the Law (1968) may well be the worst movie I have ever seen but it is also delightfully fun. but God okay an incomplete list of sins: 

-Unreasonably long, kind of tedious chase scene with some bandits trying to stop the wagon Cudlip happens to be on. They keep showing bad guys getting shot and either falling off their horses or the whole horse going down and yet every time they show the bandits there are as many of them as there were when they first showed up somehow. (When this gang returns at the end of the movie, there will still seem to be the same amount of them.) 

-(funny: this was part of another Scheme between Cudlip and his buddies--the buddies shoot their guns in the air and scare everyone, during the panic Cudlip surreptitiously chucks the bag of money out the wagon for his buddies to pick up--which they do, but then start hearing OTHER gunshots, not from them. “must be real bandits” Preacher comments. Sampson: “REAL bandits??” XD guys believe in yourselves more. You are also real bandits you are literally currently doing banditry) 

-the menacing music switches to the jaunty happy music when Cudlip’s buddies show up for backup. The jaunty happy music is still playing when the wagon driver gets blasted right out of frame by a gunshot, never to be seen again. The abruptness is hilarious. It cuts to him just in time for him to go AUGH and disappear. he’s gone. that’s it. they mention that he’s mortally wounded later on. How can you tell when he was blasted right out of creation?? Has anyone seen him since?? 

-almost halfway through the movie the villain shows up, in an unreasonably long, extended, lingering shot of him riding his horse directly towards the viewer while menacing drums play. It’s daylight. He dismounts his horse into pitch black nighttime and the ensuing scene where he yells at his lackeys for failing him is in the middle of the night and, see next point, 

-THERE ARE MULTIPLE SCENES WHERE I CAN’T SEE SHIT BC ALMOST THE ENTIRE SCREEN IS BLACK. You just put these guys outdoors at night and went ok that’s fine we don’t need any lighting to be able to see what’s going on 

-I can’t believe the awkwardly long entrance of the villain (his name is Burton) was actually the best case scenario, I mean, at least they put him in good lighting so you could SEE what was happening. we could’ve been watching a black screen that whole time apparently. God. 

-In one of those nighttime scenes we waste several seconds watching one of the bad guys do a head-jerky gesture at the others to move along, pause for a while, and then do the same thing again when they don’t respond at first. there is no reason for this. just wastin time 

-In multiple scenes with Cudlip’s two buddies talking to him, Preacher and Sampson(? Is this his name? It’s the only thing he’s referred to as but it might have been a joke, he is credited as nameless on wikipedia) are both participating in the conversation but only Preacher is on screen. Sampson is just shouting his lines from somewhere out of frame (maybe he’s communing with the spirit of the driver who got shot right into space??) 

-The bored way Sally goes “papaa” after seeing him get pistol whipped to unconsciousness right in front of her (in her defense I feel like there was probably. bad scripting/direction) 

-the casualness of Novak wandering onto the scene of an attempted robbery and going “stop thaaat” and then having a fist fight with one of the bandits (who puts his gun down first). Like pacing/tone are just OFF in this scene to SUCH an extent I . what

-I am GENUINELY UNSURE WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS SCENE. The... bandits knocked out everyone who might have prevented them from getting what they came for (which was...? the.. silver? information about the silver...??) and then they just... leave? I’m...? what??? I mean yeah they went through everyone’s pockets before leaving but. why did they go there in the first place. I feel like there was some sort of plan supposedly but I have no idea what that was 

-one scene after the other, I’m like “god I can’t wait for this to be over it’s so awkward. surely the next scene will be better” 

-I think I might need to get slightly drunk for this. maybe that will make the awkwardness go down easier. I have to finish it bc I’m invested but God

-I was thinking of Cudlip’s little league banditry gang as kind of incompetent but they are the most competent bandits out here these other guys have spent bullet casings instead of brains 

-”we’ve got to take precautions, especially now that the sheriff is in no condition to take complete charge” whwgksjkdjk. who wrote this dialogue. well it’s Italian I think a lot of the awkward dialogue is a product of sloppy translation probably but mannnn. Please. Get someone who can not just translate but translate into good dialogue you guys ran this line through a paper shredder and went “yeah that’s probably fine. It says basically the same thing.” 

-ANOTHER DARK SCENE! I CAN’T SEE SHIT! note that I never actually got up to get myself a drink bc I’m still invested in this delightful stagecoach crash of a movie. but now that I’m thinking about it I might

-”mister cooper. Y’know who those men are? Burton’s men. I don’t like aaany of them... round these parts.” 

-Novak’s “listen, just take the sheriff badge and stop pretending to be a lone wolf who doesn’t need anyone, will you?” speech to Cudlip has better delivery than the above line but the writing is borderline incomprehensible. I think I’ve translated what he meant by all that 

-this movie is insane. this movie is insane. but Cudlip gets his horsie that he wanted :) cuts to him gleefully patting it while happy music plays 

-Oh God I was complaining about the dark scenes but now there’s one that is almost completely white and washed out with lightness and now I’m starting to wonder if this is more a case of the film being degraded and/or deepfried on upload to the internet than that it was that bad to begin with. bc SURELY it wasn’t right? surely... 

-Burton yelling at his men: “They saw that you’re NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF IDIOTS!” yes correct. that they are. your men are brainless. they have no brains. have you SEEN them 

-I can’t. I’m not strong enough. I did get alcohol its not helping. please. Im. so conflicted about this movie I love it but I am taking psychic damage. noooo

-the DISBELIEVING SILENCE OF SHOCK when Cudlip comes in wearing a suit rather than his scruffy shirt unbuttoned halfway to the navel-wqit I’m doing sins this isn’t a sin its just funny sorry (and then Preacher after insulting it accidentally lets slip that he thinks it’s cool and Cudlip’s like HAHA YOU LIKE IT YOU LIKE THE SUIT) 

-Cudlip and Sally talking over each other in the beginning of their little tea party I can’t tell what either is saying (to be fair this could be on purpose to show how awkward the interaction is. bc it is very awkward. but that’s... illustrated far better by the entire rest of this scene.) 

-DID I GET A VERSION THAT WAS WEIRDLY CROPPED OR SOMETHING?? IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE IT BUT?? HOLY SHIT?? there’s ANOTHER way too dark next to impossible to see scene and Burton is supposedly drawing on the ground with a stick but the shot only shows part of the stick and doesn’t show what he’s drawing. this has to be a badly cropped version there’s no way it was this bad originally what is happening please . but nothing else looks cropped--wait are those the lines that he already drew? is that what it’s showing in this grainy dark shot? but it didn’t show him pointing at them it--it was so bad I couldn’t tell what he was--WHAT 

(I had to stop watching for the night and finish later)

-when Burton's men are riding up to crash the party at silvertown it's. Tedious. There's one scene where they're just riding their horses slowly and menacingly across the screen and it lasts for so long that the "uh oh Burton is here!" scary drum music ends and there's just several seconds of clip-clopping and otherwise awkward silence

-oh my God I'm losing it I'm. I'm trying to ignore weirdly cropped stuff because of my theory that this upload is somehow just really badly cropped because of how many times it's happened now BUT THEN? there was like a single one second long cut to people dancing at the party with no audio and then the longer scene with Burton continues. Rapid cuts back and forth are not a thing this movie does we've been spending like a minute on each cut so far. What the hell was that (rewatches just to be sure I'm not imagining it. It's at 1:22ish I am not imagining it) WHAT

-okay this makes two times that Sally has been directly menaced by the bad guys when their only stated plan was to steal some silver and I don't know why she would be involved in any way. This poor woman was created to be a damsel in distress. What is the purpose of (watches 5 minutes longer) oh shiiiit she's being held for ransom this time ok so they did have a plan beyond "ruin this woman's day in particular and then just leave for some reason" this time

-everyone is so disorganized and impassive about hostage negotiations. No one is like "maybe we should check that he actually has everyone trapped in the church" they just wait for the first body to be delivered and then they're like oh he was serious. No one goes with Cudlip to negotiate. I just. Ghhhh

-yay there's a posse forming! Happy music suddenly! PEOPLE ARE STILL BEING THREATENED WITH MURDER

-I see why people say the ending of this movie goes off the rails like. The tone of it has been generally pretty comedic and then suddenly we've got a horse carrying some innocent woman's bleeding corpse down main street. I don't think we've actually seen any death or shootouts up to this point and when it starts it starts with THIS! ?

-1:30ish there's like one full second of just completely black screen. How does this happen. Who did this. Did this somehow happen along the way or was it always this bad. Surely it wasn't always this bad. How

-and now it's trying to be suspense but Preacher is so dang casual about this life or death situation that it's gone right back to comedic. Preacher noooo don't take out your handkerchief and slowly wipe your entire face while ignoring your surroundings during a shootout there's a guy sneaking up on you while suspenseful music plays (which is somehow making it even funnier)

-oh my God that was the funniest thing I've ever seen. Oh my God. He shoots the guy without looking (or did someone else??), goes "amen" and blows his nose. What the FUCK IS THIS MOVIE 

-(but anyways maybe that was on purpose? I can’t tell anymore. I think maybe I found it funny sooner than the point I was supposed to...?)

-rube Goldberg minecart roller coaster dynamite device. I'm not even surprised anymore. That's saying something

-listen I don't know shit about movies but this has some of the worst most confusingly shot stuff I've ever seen. There's like a close up of this.. observation tower? That Burton is climbing and it zooms around it close up before zooming out so you can see what it actually is it's extremely disorienting

-we watched a guy run slowly across screen for several seconds before of course getting shot

-oh everyone is doing this now. why does everyone keep leaving their cover to get shot by Burton he's like the last guy left and he's trapped up there it would be so easy for them to pick him off or just wait for him to have to come down without anyone dying but no. The posse is even stupider than Burton's gang

-oh my God the last guy realizes this was a stupid idea and changes his mind and tries to run back to cover before being shot in the back and turning a full somersault

-I have never seen such an egregious example of just. killing off all the redshirts. ALL of them in the span of like one minute one by one

-Novak, actually panting and frantic like he is in a shootout: give me your rifle! Preacher, just chilling, sitting down: 😐 *lets him grab it and switches to his pistol without a single fuck given* The "I just work here" vibes of this man.

-did he just create a scope out of a random piece of junk? I think it's implied he's an inventor but maybe they should have like. Actually mentioned this out loud before now! (Bc I love scientists I love nerds where is my nerd content. It was taken from me. I only got this finale scene and a brief line about him implementing new methods at the mine) 

-lolllll Burton looks like a vampire with his cape spread out like that. A deceased bat. Rip

-weirdly triumphant music after a very depressing ending :/

-Legend tells that the wagon driver who got shot right out of frame was glimpsed by the Hubble telescope, hurtling past the rings of Jupiter. He shows no signs of slowing down. Sampson flickers in and out of reality like he flickers in and out of frame in conversations he is desperately trying to be a part of 

-this was deeply gay and deeply unhinged. 10/10 this is a terrible movie and the middle was a slog to get through. Cannot recommend but will recommend anyway. what the fuck. Rare footage of a Feral and Unhinged Lee Van Cleef character, a departure from the Colonel Mortimer type

[sunshinereddie]

I hope you're not getting tired of me jumping into your inbox everytime I get any Reddie ideas because I don't think I'll be stopping anytime soon 😅

Anyways, I present you this amazing tiktok cover of "A Glimpse of Us". The idea that came rushing into my head while watching this tiktok for the millionth time almost made me tear up and that's saying something because you know what I'm writing 😂

!!WORD VOMIT ALERT!!

Remember when I mentioned back then about how Richie and Eddie were together back in their high school days but broke up due to them knowing that long-distance will be too much for them? Put that back in this scenario except Pennywise doesn't exist and so, they never forgot each other at all. They just broke up and promised that once they're more stable, they'll get back together and live out those plans they've been making while they were together.

They stayed in touch. They call each other and wrote letters whenever they can just so the other always knows that they still love and care for one another despite no longer committed. Then throw in your wonderful Anon's idea here, they became distant due to their own personal schedules and the calls and letter became less and less frequent. In the midst of all the longing and stress and depression, Eddie Kaspbrak met Myra Jordan. (Idk what her maiden name is but that's my maiden name headcanon for her)

And oh, she was an all time comfort. Despite having such a great resemblance to his own mother appearance and personality wise, she helped him unload all those stress. Her consistent presence by his side satisfied his longing and yeah, she was no Richie. She's, in fact, the polar opposite of his first love but could you blame Eddie for falling in love(?) with her? She was there for while Richie was not. She was there.

Richie didn't even found out about her until Eddie brought her along one summer while introducing her as his fiancee. Richie, being the man that he is, didn't let it show how betrayed and hurt he was at that moment. He joked and congratulated Eddie whilst ignoring the way his heart was slowly and painfully breaking piece by piece by every lovestruck look Eddie throws in Myra's way. With a fake bright smile, Richie accepted being Eddie's best man- (jk, but imagine that, AUGH MY HEART-) he accepted being apart of the ceremony and teased him about having mommy issues, ignoring the way everyone but Eddie and Myra could see right through his defense mechanism.

The wedding happened, everything went smooth, and everyone was happy. Even Richie, genuinely he was! He was happy that Eddie was happy, even if it wasn't with him. Even if it'll never be with him.

1 week later and that's when the song comes in. Every night, without fail, Richie would visit bars and clubs, trying to replace his own longing with the embraces of strangers. Trying to replace the phantom feeling of Eddie's touches and kisses with those of random one night stands and short relationships. He hadn't succeeded yet.

He still wants that euphoric magical feeling his relationship with Eddie made him feel. He thinks he'll always want it.

...

Five years later, Eddie's favorite song is A Glimpse Of Us by Joji.

HELLO I WOULD NEVER GET TIRED OF PEOPLE COMING INTO MY INBOX WITH HCS !!!!! IT'S LITERALLY MY FAVOURITE THING EVER !!!!

but, aahhh!!!! this tugged at my heartstrings,,,, the idea of eddie asking richie to be his best man, and richie going along with it because he knows it will make eds happy even though it's breaking his heart?? OOF THAT HURTS...... stuff like this just reminds me of how tragic richie and eddie's story really is. they're soulmates, they love each other, but they can't stop the things, or people, keeping them apart.

it's so beautifully heartbreaking :'(

[spectral-apparitions]

how would Neon J be if he met his futre s/o but was insecure about being a cyborg and him being overdramatic on top if that his ptsd...how would he react when the s/o would just give him all the love and support like always softly bonking her head to his screen,be dramatic with him and always made sure he was ok when his ptsd actted up

Under the cut for being long. Enjoy :)

I think dealing with PTSD is something he’s insecure about in general. It manifests itself in different ways but he doesn’t want to accidentally hurt anyone. So especially people he gets close to, whether romantic or platonic (even familial) he has this lingering concern he’s gonna drive them away.

Being a cyborg doesn’t bother him a lot until it comes to getting close to someone, especially romantically. Are they gonna be disappointed that he can’t kiss them? Won’t cuddles be uncomfortable? Maybe it’s awkward to hold his hand? What if they say it’s okay but eventually get tired of it?  With those concerns it’s hard enough for him to allow himself to date you. But AUGH the feelings! He has to at least try despite his concerns because he would rather try and fail than be haunted by never attempting. He doesn’t tell you about his concerns at first. He doesn’t want to bother you. 

He wants to cuddle and hold hands but he hesitates a lot out of concern you’ll  find it uncomfortable. He usually starts halfway - leaning into you or brushing his hand against yours. If you make a move back, he’ll relax. After a little while he stops being nervous and just relaxes everytime you take his hand or cuddle into him. (He’s actually quite a cuddlebug) 

He’s usually wearing something soft like a sweater anyways, which could make cuddles a little better. But still, he often offers pillows or blankets to make it cozier. He won’t say why he does that, but occasionally adds in quietly “in case” you get uncomfortable on him. And really, if you do want that extra soft barrier, he doesn’t mind, because you’re still close and spending time together and he can put his arms around you. But if you ever say anything about not minding he’ll get flustered.

He just loves affection from you! Whether bonking his head or kissing him or saying sweet things or holding hands or just spending time together. He eats it up. He just !!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️ internally. 

So of course when you continue to be sweet even with his insecurities he just melts. Gradually his worries lessen and he’s more comfortable around you.

He isn’t concerned about his dramatic behavior at first, actually. That’s just who he is. But after you start dating a bit he suddenly gets concerned. What if he’s too loud? What if he embarrasses you? But as you act goofy with him those concerns quickly fade. This he might actually speak up about, and ask you if he ever embarrasses you or is too loud. He’ll do his best to make any adjustments for you, and knowing your full truthful answer gets him to settle and bury those worries. 

When you act dramatic with him, he just loves it! He has such a good time with you! Whether it’s dancing together, singing loudly, acting out scenes, or just making up silly conversations. He loves making you laugh with his antics and he WILL ham it up just to make you smile. He also just genuinely enjoys letting loose and acting silly with you, you make him happy.

He won’t talk to you upfront about his PTSD at first. But anytime you offer spending the night together he finds ways to avoid it. And for a while he keeps it pretty well hidden. It’s going to be something big like you asking him why he doesn’t ever want to spend the night or him accidentally going into an outburst or freezing around you before he says anything.

He’s quite collected about it, actually. When the time comes he makes sure you two can be in private and uninterrupted while he explains to you. It’s no secret that he’s a vet, but he doesn’t like to talk about the trauma that came after. He’ll explain to you the ways it manifests for him personally - nightmares, aggressive outbursts, going still and unresponsive, suddenly remembering something and dwelling on it. He’ll answer any questions you have. He makes sure to tell you that when these things happen, he doesn’t mean to hurt you. And that he understands if that’s too much for you to handle. He doesn’t want you to feel pressured into dealing with him.

Imagine his surprise when you tell him how you’ll stick with him! The sheer relief of confessing all that and you still staying would make him cry if he could. He shakes as if he were crying.

Still, he checks with you periodically. Especially if something happened. Even if you’re okay with him, he wants to make sure you are alright. He appreciates you so so much. He wants to make sure you’re not hiding any hurt from him. And he reassures you that if he’s ever too much, or if he ends up hurting you, you can do what you need to to take care of yourself. 

Eventually all his worries settle. The two of you can even joke about his cyborg quirks at times. He’s able to sleep next to you comfortably. He holds your hand every chance he gets. He’s able to just be himself. He lovingly and gently bonks his head to yours. He’s so glad to have you in his life and when he thinks about you he just feels bursts of love. He makes sure you know how much he adores and appreciates you. 

[shouldhavebeenyou]

The Storm

Its not fair.

Its been seven years since I fell in love with you. Every single day since then, my life has been turned upside down. It was raw, rough, passionate, incredible, painful, young love. I had no clue what I was doing with a girl like you. You were so high above me, all I knew was that I wanted it to last forever. You had the dopest soul I ever encountered, and I never knew I could care for someone so much. You may never know the effect you had on me. The moments we spent together replay in my head over and over, eroding away my will to live with every painful memory. 

But are the memories really painful? No, I suppose not. Those memories are full of complex emotions; happiness, sadness, longing, regret, love, despair, hopelessness, and yes, pain. Those memories are all I have left of our time together, aside from a few obscure landscape photographs where you were just out of frame. I try not to look at them.. but when I do it brings it all back. I wish I kept more of a record of us. As time goes on, it gets harder to remember. I lay awake at night just trying to play it all out. Just trying to remember your beautiful face, the feel of your lips, the sound of your laugh, the smell of your skin, the endless puns and witty jokes. The places we discovered and adventured together. The trouble we got in. 

Its not fair.

I can’t sleep. It’s been a few years of this. Each night is filled with hours of replaying my mistakes in my head, hours of picturing your face inches from mine, hours of remembering the nights spent at your childhood home out on the trampoline talking, replaying the memories of taking so long to leave that your dad flips the porch light on and off to say “hurry up.” After hours of recalling the best and worst of it all I might finally slip into an exhausted state where I just can’t think anymore. It’s like sleeping, but altogether different too, like a restless trance. Images flash through my head, some of them memories, some of them inventions of the dreaming mind. About every hour I’ll awake from this trance for a few moments, my heart racing and feeling broken, only to slip back into this nightmarish world of what could have been. Should have been.

Its like a slow, drawn out death. With every restless night the next day gets harder. The last time I truly felt alive was with you. The last time I truly felt in love was with you. The last time I truly felt, was with you. The last thing you said to me runs through my head over and over daily. I’ve held on to that memory since then like it was my only shot at freedom, at redemption, at life. Its naïve, I know, but I still think maybe, just maybe, we’ll run into each other on that crowded city street and pick up where we left off, just like you said that day you last left me. 

Its not fair. 

I did everything I thought I was supposed to. I’m such an idiot. You said to go to finish my degree, move away, and maybe when I’m finished with it we would run into each other on that crowded street. Well I’m done, I got that expensive piece of qualifying paper. In my fight for it, I lost sight of you. I became romanticized, deluded. In my degraded state of emptiness without you I became ravenous for something, anything, that would make me feel again. I tried more things to fill that void than I would like to admit, but the one that stuck was skydiving. The rush of air beneath me, the sky around and above me, the horizon seemingly stretching endlessly in every direction, the deafening roar of wind, and the feeling of soaring miles through empty space are the closest I have felt to you since you left. And yet, it falls so short that even hundreds of skydives couldn’t make me forget you, couldn’t measure up to the way you made me feel. If only I told myself to ditch the parachute and fly to you before it was too late. You are truly irreplaceable, and I can only hope he knows that as well as I do.

You have become the Daisy to my Gastby, the green light at the end of the dock across the bay, the unobtainable end to my story. I don’t know who I would be without that force driving me, but sometimes I can’t help but think I would be better, happier. Like Gatsby gone to war, I have probably romanticized your memory too much in those years since you left and I moved, distorting the dope soul I once knew and loved unconditionally into an impossibly perfect idea of you. Before I knew it, I was done with school, left skydiving by the wayside, and trapped myself with someone who reminded me of you. Someone who sparked something in me for just a moment, and gave me hope again. I chased her hoping it would come back, but it didn’t. I don’t know why I settled. Maybe after the exhaustion of sleepless years I just wanted to take the easy way out, and be done with the chase. Maybe I didn’t feel like I deserved you, and I gave up before really even trying. I hate myself for that. I feel like a masochist torturing himself because he just doesn’t know better, or perhaps because he thinks the pain and despair will make him stronger. Well, it hasn’t. I’m weak. Broken. A shell of the man I used to be. I was once able to smile, genuinely. Now, it’s like I’ve lost the muscle memory to smile or laugh. I look back at pictures of myself before I moved to this fiery hell, and that man is unrecognizable. You can see the hope that was once in my eyes, the youth in my face, the ambition and energy. Its all gone now. 

Its not fair. 

I tried to move on. I spent hours reading, occupying my mind with something else. I’ve read hundreds of books just trying to think about you less. But some days, I just can’t help myself but to look you up and see how you’re doing. I always regret it. It pushes me back into that deep depressive state where I just can’t do anything anymore. It breaks me nearly every time. Your engagement broke me. Your wedding broke me. You look so happy with him, and that alone is maybe the only thing that keeps me alive, albeit hanging on by a thread. 

I tried to focus on the future, and not dwell on the past. I tried to fully engross myself in my relationship, my work, my hobbies, to find some source of happiness outside of you and your memory. Finally, one such source came. I was going to have a daughter. A new love of my life. Someone who maybe could finally make me happy again, give me a sense of purpose, of hope, ambition, the energy to get out of bed in the morning. 

Its not fair. 

She died. The only thread of hope I had, the first taste of feeling anything real since you left. Gone. I thought I had known pain and depression before, but this cut through me like an icy blade. And it just kept cutting. I saw her, I held her lifeless body in my hands, her precious form only the size of my palm. It killed me. I remembered you. You had once told me you always had a feeling you could never physically have children. They say that God has an ironic sense of humor, but I don’t find this humorous at all. With some sick twist of fate, it was not you, but I, who could not beget. Months of pain and anguish went by, as I slipped deeper into my state of peril.

I’m 25 now. This was a hard birthday this past weekend. I couldn’t stop thinking about you and how over and above you always went with gifts and birthdays. I also couldn't stop thinking about how the only thing I wanted was my daughter back. I had some sick day dream that maybe you both would come back to me, the best birthday gift possible. I fought it. I pushed hard against the thoughts that crept into the dark corners of my mind, the thoughts of us. I wanted the pain to just end. I fought against it for a few nights, until last night. Yet another sleepless night filled with memories, flashes, flooding into my closed eyes and keeping me restless. Irrationally I thought “Maybe if I could just see her face, it would hurt a little less.” I was wrong. 

Its not fair.

You have a daughter of your own on the way. Due nearly the same time as mine was, in the Fall. We always loved Autumn. The leaves, the air, the color, the fading daylight and cool breeze. It always reminds me of you, and our naïve “Something Day.” I’ll never forget we chose our favorite month, October, and our favorite number, 4, that we just happened to have in common. Its a painful day every year. Its not fair. Why does my daughter get taken from me the same time you’re given one? Why does everything I love get taken from me? Why am I not deserving of the life I wanted? What did I do to deserve this life of consistent pain and inadequacy? I hate it. I want out. I don’t know how much longer I can live with this pain. A scene from one of our darker days plays on repeat in my mind. You wanted to meet near the library to talk. It was late in the summer, the middle of monsoon season. In typical monsoon fashion, there were clouds all around us, thundering and flashing with lightning, though immediately above us a hole penetrated the clouds, allowing the sun to shine through on us. It seems like a scene from a novel, the weather meant to foreshadow what was about to happen in my heart. You looked more broken than I had ever seen you, with your eyes downcast and wrists bloody. That sight alone shattered my heart. You told me all your friends, the people that made you happy, hated that we were together. It was your last year of high school, I would’ve hated myself if you were miserable at school your entire senior year, all because of me. You said you couldn’t do it anymore, and that we needed to break up. It might not have been our last break up, but it was the most painful. Perhaps it was all amplified by the scenery and my young, dramatic, broken heart. We parted and I sat in my car there at the library for hours, sobbing uncontrollably and praying to God asking why. The storm that was raging around us quickly descended upon me, and upon my heart, ripping a hole through the middle of it like the hole of sun that was above us. Before I knew it my tears were one with the downpour that was all around me. 

That scene is all I can think about now. The storm is so vivid, I could paint it with the minutest detail. A new hole has been rent through my scarred heart and left there by my departed daughter, reminding me of the hole that was first left there 7 years ago by you, and which has been repeatedly reopened and scarred over since. I’ve tried to heal, but I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel true happiness again. I don’t know if I’ll ever find true passion again, like I had with you. I don’t know if I’ll ever know true hope again, like when my daughter was alive. Its not fair. You’ve moved on. You’re happy with him. You’re creating a beautiful family with a new daughter. Here I am, stuck in the past, unable to let go of the storm you left in my heart. 

Its just not fair. 

[delimeful]

the shapes in the silence (6)

warnings: panic, violence, blood

Chapter 6

Virgil took a step forward without even meaning to, and then jerked to a stop as Roman skittered back like a frightened deer. He wilted slightly, but tried not to take it personally. He knew better than anyone how scary being suddenly small could be. 

“Puff? Don’t- Don’t let them control you!” Roman’s sword faltered back and forth, face contorted with an odd mixture of anguish and fear. 

Virgil narrowed his eyes, casting a glance at the Dragon Witch. Control him? As if. Roman was tiny, in danger, and afraid. There was virtually nothing that could stop him from doing his damn job, and absolutely nothing that would make him actually attack Roman. 

Meters away, the Dragon Witch shifted impatiently. “I said, give the prince a taste of what dragons are really like, runt.”

Once again, the compulsion to move, to rend and tear, filled his mind for a heartbeat before being shunted away at the speed of light. He’d have to be a jackass to make this work, but he’d already proved himself capable of that in the name of protecting his people. 

A beat late, he started forward again, his gait now distinctly menacing. He thought of what could have happened if the Dragon Witch had used this spell on Roman when he was alone, and a low growl started up in his throat. Roman’s face crumpled as he started taking careful steps back, sword raised in a barely-steady hand.

“Puff, please. Don’t make me fight you.” He pleaded, raising his other hand defensively. Virgil continued to move, matching the prince’s retreat step for step. 

Until Roman stumbled over a stray branch, his sword dipping slightly for a moment, and Virgil lunged. 

That sword wasn’t all for show, of course, and Roman lashed it at him as he knocked the small side over, but with all the adrenaline flooding his system he had no idea whether the blow had landed. Didn’t really matter. He ducked his head down, and carefully latched his teeth onto the back of that cheesy outfit, lifting him up like a scruffed kitten with ease. 

The moment he was sure Roman was secure in his grip, he bolted, sprinting away for all he was worth. Behind them, a startled and then enraged shriek came from the Dragon Witch, but if there was one thing he knew, it was how to hide. 

He ducked between the long shadows cast by the late afternoon sun, mind set on finding a secure place to hide and nothing else. It could have been minutes or hours before he found the small cave carved into the wall of a cliff face, but all that really mattered was that he had found it. 

Clawing up the small jump to get into it, he made sure it was deep enough to hide them from view before finally releasing the death grip he had on Roman. He immediately switched gears to sniff at him instead, searching out any possible injuries.

The tiny side shoved him back, eyes a little wild with panic, and Virgil retreated. Right. He’d forgotten that he’d been fake-threatening Roman before. 

“Puff?” He asked, searching his eyes intently.

Virgil scooted back to give him some space, before carefully lowering his head to settle onto the floor, trying to be as non threatening as possible. It made him feel uncomfortably vulnerable, but he probably deserved any retaliation after the scare he’d given Roman, and he probably wouldn’t kill him, right? 

Before he could get himself worked up about the possibility, Roman sat down, letting out a deep breath. “You’re… still you, right? For realsies?” 

Virgil huffed impatiently at his hesitance, and more of the tension leaked from Roman’s frame. 

“Okay… okay. I believe you. Are you alright?” 

Virgil blinked. Was he? He stood up, turning in a circle to inspect himself, and then froze at Roman’s gasp. What, did he move too fast and scare him again?

“Puff, your side!” A delicate touch pressed against his left ribcage, and his ears flattened at the sudden sting. 

Huh. Guess the sword had gotten him after all. 

He laid back down, feeling too crowded in the small enclave otherwise, and rumbled at Roman reassuringly. It felt pretty shallow, it would be fine. Probably.

Roman looked at him with a stricken expression. “I… hurt you. You were only trying to protect me and I… I could have seriously injured you!” 

Virgil grumbled a disagreement. Roman was like half his size. He had scales and stuff, he was fine.

“Don’t you try and say otherwise!” Roman demanded, despite the fact that Virgil wasn’t really saying anything. He inhaled sharply, as though about to go on a self recriminatory tangent, and Virgil decided that no, he’d had enough of those. 

Without another sound, he padded over and curled his non-injured side around Roman, finding that at this size, he could comfortably curl up into a ball with the creative side tucked against him. Roman spluttered at being interrupted, and Virgil draped a wing over him, teasingly muting his protest.

“Fine, fine! But we’re going home, and getting you treated.” 

A loud crack echoed from outside, and they turned to see it had begun to storm while Roman was preoccupied by being a dunce. 

“When… that clears up, I guess.” Roman frowned, drawing closer to Virgil seemingly without realizing. He chirped in agreement, and settled his head back down to wait. After the earlier panic, he was happy to be a shield between Roman and the rest of the world for as long as needed. 

For a few minutes, there was only the sound of heavy rain and rolling thunder.

“They can control dragons, y’know.” Roman said, drawing Virgil out of his sleepiness. “The Dragon Witch. That’s why I… when they ordered you…” He trailed off. 

Virgil remembered the compulsion magic, but it hadn’t gripped all of him. It was almost reassuring; despite his appearance, he was still him, not a dragon. He turned his nose up dramatically for Roman’s sake, as if to dismiss the magic as insignificant. Roman chuckled softly.

“You’re really something else, Puff. Sometimes I think you’re not even really a dragon.”

Virgil froze, despite having just thought the same thing. If Roman figured it out… He felt his stomach sink. It wasn’t even really about the fact that he was a monster to be slayed anymore. There was something new he had with Roman, with all three of the Light Sides, and he desperately didn’t want to lose it. 

The moment of silence stretched on agonizingly, before Roman laughed again, a bit more genuine this time. 

“It’s okay, Puff. You’re special, you don’t have to tell me why.” A pause, as Virgil tried to process that. “I… apologize for being unable to protect you. For making you protect me.”

Virgil couldn’t tell him that if this were a fairytale, he’d be cast as the villain anyways, so there was no reason to apologize. He couldn’t tell him that he was supposed to protect Roman, couldn’t harangue him for being so insistent on taking everything on alone.

All he could do was curl himself tighter around Roman, and let himself purr loud enough to drown out the thunder. 

When the sky finally cleared, Roman was drooling from his position sprawled out against Virgil’s side. He snorted. Prince Charming, to be sure. The guy was out cold.

He ever so carefully lifted the wing he had left laid over the side like a blanket, and then slapped it back down on him, jolting him awake. 

“Hwagh?!” Roman said, jerking upright.

Virgil smacked him again for good measure. Rise and shine, Sir Sings-A-Lot. 

“Augh, stop your assault on my person, you fiend!” Roman rolled out from under his wing, sending him a petulant glare. He chirruped smugly, and proceeded to stretch obnoxiously as Roman moved to gather his belongings. 

The sky outside was grey, but the only sign of the storm was the lingering petrichor. Roman looked at his hand, minuscule against the backdrop, and sighed. 

“At this size, it will take ages to return to our entry portal. Normally, I could shift it closer, but… this form seems to have more disadvantages than mere size reduction.” 

Virgil looked at Roman consideringly. It should be doable at this size, and there was a soft blanket of leaves and other forest mulch in case he fucked up, so… 

“What? What are you looking aaaAAAAAHHH PUFF NO!” 

Roman hollered in protest as Virgil pushed him forwards towards the opening of the cave, grabbing Roman’s shoulders and then launching them both out into the open air. 

He almost lost at the beginning, the difference in weight making them plunge for a moment- and making Roman screech at an ear-splitting pitch- before he flapped hard, managing to regain his balance in the air.

There. Easy as pie. 

It was a bit difficult for him to trace their path backwards from such a different perspective, but luckily after Roman had finished yelling, he begrudgingly helped guide Virgil back to their doorway. 

He stumbled a bit on the landing, but managed to drop Roman only half an inch off the ground, so he counted it as a win. From there, they walked through to the familiar halls of their home in the Mindscape. 

Roman craned his head back, trying to take in how large everything was. “I… have no idea where we are. Everything looks so different!”

It was a little funny, that Virgil was used to this perspective by now. Hell, sometimes he got a little disoriented waking up big. 

“Wait.” Roman seemed to realize something. “Why hasn’t the spell worn off yet? Enchantments are usually limited to the realm they’re cast in.” 

That sounded like a problem Virgil had no idea how to solve. Good thing he had other people to depend on in this form! He grabbed Roman’s sash, lifting him up yet again, and began trotting down the hall towards the lounge. 

“Hey! Puff? Where are we going?” Roman called, nervously. 

Virgil purred lightly to reassure him, and then began carefully making his way down the stairs. Luckily, the others were already in the lounge area, Logan undoubtedly lured out by the smell of whatever pastry Patton had been baking.  

“Puff, wait- I don’t want them to see- !”

“Did you say something, Lo?” 

Roman went silent and still, and Virgil realized that he was probably hearing their voices from this size for the first time. He slowed, still mostly hidden by the bannister of the stairs, and set the creative side down, watching as he leaned against a stair for support, breathing hard. He motioned towards the others with his head, flicking his ears back and forth. They’ll help. 

“They… they shouldn’t see me like this. We should go back, I’m certain it will wear off eventually.” Roman said, voice layered with false confidence. 

Virgil stared at him, unimpressed, and Roman opened his mouth again before abruptly paling. 

“Puff? Kiddo, that you?” 

Virgil twisted around, seeing that Patton was now standing at the foot of the stairs, only a couple of feet away. He evidently hadn’t been as well hidden as he’d thought. Whoops. 

He shifted slightly, flaring his wings a bit to hide Roman’s crouched form from view, and then chirruped a greeting. Patton smiled. 

“Hey, little guy! What are you doing all the way over here? I made some cinnamon rolls for my son-namon rolls!” 

“Not your best.” Logan called out from his chair. 

“But you still ate them!” Patton responded cheerily, ignoring Logan’s displeased silence. 

Virgil shifted uneasily, but before he could really formulate a plan of action, he felt a tiny form duck under his wing. Patton’s eyes went wide as saucers, and Virgil looked down at Roman with his own surprise, resisting the urge to shift his wing and re-conceal him.  

The three-inch figure was standing up, stiff-backed, right in front of Patton. He summoned up a strained smile, tilting his head back to meet Patton’s gaze as though nothing was wrong. 

“Hey, Padre.” 

[sporesgalaxy]

You know what? Fuck it. Here's the whole ass WIP script for the Danny Phantom/Ben 10/Deadpool crossover nightmare, which is called #follow ur crossover dreams, by the way. I think copy-pasting on my phone is gonna delete some italics but whatever.

Reminder that it's still a really early draft with a lot I plan on changing (wade Motormouth wilson doesnt say nearly enough bullshit, for starters), but hopefully u will enjoy it. happy birthday to me, my gift is letting myself share ideas without maximum effort

[BEN is running through a crowd of high school students, excitedly. He is on his phone] BEN: C'mon, Gwen, just tell me where to go! I wanna fight some bad guys today! It's been weeks! [GWEN is on a computer] GWEN: Ben, for the last time, you are NOT going into this alone! We aren't even sure what's causing this yet! Seismic activity at this scale is totally unheard of around here, and whatever's causing it-- BEN: Is gonna get it's butt whooped by the one and only Benn Tennyson! BEN: Don't worry, I can totally handle this! GWEN: Yeah, cause things always work out perfectly  when you say that. BEN: Just give me the location, and you can catch up with me there! GWEN: No, Ben. I'll fill you in when we know more, but.until then, don't run off. [BEN is dejectedy watching TV at home, when suddenly, there is another earthquake. Soon after, a newswoman reveals the epicenter just outside of town, and Ben gets an idea] [BEN gets off a public bus at a bus stop far outside of town. He looks out into a dry hilly wilderness, and down to his phone gps to confirm he is going in the right direction.] BEN: all right...I didn't wanna risk timing out before I got there, but I think I'm close enough now... [BEN places his phone gps at his feet, closes his eyes, and slaps the Omnitrix] [BEN transforms into Stinkfly] BEN: Well, I was hoping for XLR8, but I guess I can work with this? [BEN picks up his phonr and flies off] [when he reaches the epicenter BEN finds, embedded into a large hill, an abandoned lab of some sort.] BEN: ooOh [BEN enters the lab, and shortly times out, becoming human again. He sort of tries to sneak, but is clearly too excited/curious to be very effective] [The lab is full of rusting, inscruitable equiptment. Finally, Ben enters a natural cave turned testing area deep inside the lab, a cavernous room machinery littering the floor. There seems to be a fixation on machinery that we would recognize as Danny's parents' portal, but not embedded into a wall, so like a door attatched to a tube. Spare parts and dissasembled prototypes rest along the edges of the room, and a few assembled peices rest towards one end.] [Ben stands on the far south end of the cave, looking around at all of the strange wiring and such.] BEN: I wonder if this is Plumber tech... [BEN kicks a bundle of cords on the floor, and the sound echoes through the room.] [Then, a stranger sound eminates from somewhere just outside of the cavern. And another, similar, closer sound is accompanied by a visible flash. And then-- in a green streak, DANNY bursts into the air in the cavernous space, and then hits the floor and skids. When he stops, he turns human as he falls unconscious] [BEN has no fucking idea what is going on] BEN: uh...h...HEY. ARE YOU...OKAY? DANNY: ... BEN: HELLO? HELO-O? DP: ya think he's dead? BEN: AUGH!!!! [BEN jumps violently, very surprised by Deadpool's presence, and takes a step back] BEN: Who the heck are you?! DP: Call me Deadpool! [BEN gives him a look of utter disbelief. That is the stupidest superhero name he's ever heard. He's about to say that, but then,] DANNY: [groans] DP: [hops down. Puts a hand out, signalling for Ben to stay] Stay here, kid. [Ben is offended to be belittled even if it's reasonable. He stands with an angry look on his face for a moment before following just a few steps behind deadpool, hand at the ready above his watch.] [DP veeery cautiosly walks over to Danny and then....abruptly switches gears, standing up straight and gently bumping the boy's shoulder with his foot] DP: hey. hey. get up. DANNY: five more minutess.... DP: ...7Your mom made pancakes? [DANNY's eyebrows furrow. He groans again. He props himself up, and rubs his head. He's covered in dirt and some blood. He opens his eyes and his expression is full of exhaustion and dread as he processes his unfamiliar surroundings. He looks up at Deadpool] DANNY: ...........I don't smell any pancakes. [DEADPOOL and DANNY stare at eachother for a moment. DANNY seems to be waiting for something. He suddenly looks at BEN, incredulous] DANNY: So are either of you going to attack me, or are we having a staring contest? BEN: I dunno, are YOU going to attack? [DANNY is so tired. He's had a long day] DANNY: I'd prefer not to, but it tends to happen a lot. DP: Well that's depressing! BEN: Well if none of us are fighting, I have a question. BEN: Where'd you two come from? DANNY: Ghost portal. DP: Time travel. BEN: ... BEN: You're not giving me much to work with, here. [BEN points to DANNY] BEN: Especially you. I get time travel, I can live with that-- DP: Thank god. BEN: --But, "ghost portal?" Like a portal for ghosts? Are you dead?? [DP slowly prods Danny with his foot again. Danny is too busy suddenly realizing that he's in human form to be concerned with that] DANNY: I--uh-- BEN: Was that what was up with the green energy? DANNY: Maybe I just went through the ghost portal, ok? I--where are we? BEN: Somewhere on the outskirts of Bellwood, Nevada. DANNY: Nevada? BEN: Nevada DANNY: Huh. DANNY: And why are you here? BEN: [excited to sound smart] There was some unnatural seismic activity around here, and I came to check it out, see if it was anything nefarious. BEN: [cocky] You know, usual superhero stuff. [Danny is a little shocked. He's never really met another superhero before, who wasn't a clone, or accusing Danny of being evil or something] DANNY: oh. BEN: What? DANNY: You're...you're really a superhero? DP: You're like 12 is that safe? [What is the deal with all these young superheroes but say it funnier] BEN: I'm 16!!! DP: Children trying to be superheroes never works out well, trust me kid. BEN: I'm not a child!! Why do you care, huh? DP: Cause I hang out with a lot of superheroes and the heroism business has never done anyone's mental health ANY favors. [DANNY puts his hed in his hands] DANNY: Ugh, tell me about it. BEN: Ha! You AREN'T a normal kid! DANNY: oops. BEN: What can you do?? Do you have GHOST POWERS? [DANNY bites his lip] DANNY: What about you? Do you have powers? BEN: I can turn into any of hundreds of aliens! DANNY: ...care to show me? [BEN looks at the Omnitrix. It's still timed out] BEN: ...in theory... [Danny raises an eyebrow] [meanwhile, Deadpool loses interest. He starts climbing on stuff, looking at the scattered tech.] BEN: Uhhh...can it wait a minute? I just flew here. DANNY: What?? BEN: [gestures to watch, grinning sheepishly] Alien tech! BEN: I swear I'll show you later. What about you! Show me yours! [Deadpool arches an eyebrow at them in the distance] DANNY: ...I guess, since you already guessed it... BEN: What are you so worried about? Ha, haven't you ever met another superhero before? [Ben was sort of kidding, but...] DANNY: BEN: DANNY: Uh, no. Not really. BEN: ...So do you fight bad guys all on your own? DANNY: Uh, yeah? I'm kinda the only person who can. [Reconsiders, and adds with bitterness] Well, the only one who can and will. [Ben thinks about that for a second. He knows how it feels to think you're the only person who can save the world, but Ben is usually wrong when he assumes that's the case. He doesn't like imagining how he'd feel without all the support he's gotten in his hero-ing career. He's genuinely concerned for Danny.] [Danny notices the concern in Ben's expression. Ben seems to be about to say something, but Danny suddenly feels insecure about being pitied. He finally stands up, brushing himself off] DANNY: But like, I have friends, and plenty of tech they can use to help me out. I'm just the only...I guess I'm the only superpowered person willing to deal with fighting ghosts all the time, okay? Whatever! I've been at it for 2 years, I'm used to it. [Ben then adds something together in his head] BEN: Wait, have you never heard of me? Ben 10? DP: Wow! Humble! BEN: No, seriously! Never? Have you ever seen any aliens? DANNY: Uh, no? BEN: Where are you from? DANNY: Colorado. BEN: I've saved the world, like, several times. [DANNY and DP raise an eyebrow each] BEN: Publicly!! People know about me! I'm a big deal!! This is--You guys aren't from here. I need to take you to the Plumbers, so we can-- [A portal powers up again. DANNY seems to suddenly remember something. He goes stiff] DANNY: Oh no. BEN: What? Is that the Ghost Portal? DANNY: Yeah. And you're about to meet the guy who punched me through it. [DP rejoins them to look at the threat] DP: Oh, now that you two have your shit figured out, I should mention I'm from another universe. BEN: WHAT! You said time travel! DP: Yeah, time travel gone horribly, horribly wrong. BEN: How??? I've time travelled a few times and never seen anyine mess it up that bad. DANNY: Yeah since when does time travel take you to other universes? DP: OH SO WE'RE ALL TIME TRAVEL EXPERTS HERE ARE WE??? I'm not telling you two how to live YOUR lives! DP: How about I start bragging about being a superhero expert! Neither of you even know what an X-man *IS!* BEN: Like from the comics? [DP looks at Ben. He won't say it out loud but his expression says "WHAT THE FUCK DUDE"] [BEN shrugs]

[time to get DISJOINTED!!! Here's 2 comic transcripts]

...[some fighting I havent written yet]...

DP: DANNY WHY IS YOUR GHOST DAD SO HOT?? DANNY: HE'S NOT MY DAD. PLEASE DON'T CALL HIM THAT, IT'S A WHOLE *THING* WITH HIM-- [VLAD beams] VLAD: Now, Daniel, is that any way to speak to your father?? DANNY: SEE?! Now he'll never shut up about it! VLAD: I've had enough of your sass, young man! You're GROUNDED. [VLAD spikes Danny into the ground HARD.] [DP is pissed off now. He reaches for his katanas.] DP: Ok I get the picture.

...[more unwritten fighting]...

VLAD: Well, now that I have your undivided attention-- [DANNY has just been punched into the ground. He's sitting up, now] DANNY: --You can start the evil monologue. Joy. VLAD: Evil is such a reductive word. Don't you ever get tired of being beaten half to death to protect people that couldn't care less if you lived or died? [DANNY stands up, with some difficulty] DANNY: You *would* think having a conscience is exhausting. [VLAD is taking a lazy step towards Danny every few moments] VLAD: ...Have you noticed where we are, Daniel? VLAD: Because it isn't Amity Park. It's not even in the same universe as Amity Park. VLAD: And it's not anywhere your idiot father will ever bother finding, seeing as it has nothing whatsoever to do with ghosts. [VLAD is standing over Danny, now] VLAD: Do you know what that means, my boy? VLAD: Nothing I do here can spoil my reputation. VLAD: And none of your little friends are coming to save you. [VLAD places a hand on Danny's shoulder, gripping too tight] VLAD: So VLAD: I'm going to make you the same offer I made you the night of the reunion VLAD: One. Last. Time. VLAD: Either abandon Jack and let me teach you how to really use your powers, [VLAD summons some ghostly energy between his hand and Danny's shoulder] VLAD: Or force me to make poor, dear Maddie file a missing person's report that will never be resolved.

[wow direct segue into comic!]

..[just a tad more unwritten fighting]...

[Vlad has Ben by the neck very far up in the air, and Ben is frantically pressing his Omnitrix] VLAD: [cackles] Goodness, I think your powers might be even more tempermental than Daniel's! It's a little sad, honestly. I was looking forward to a real challenge for once. DP: [on the ground, a distance away] Superpowers shmuperpowers [cocks gun, and fires a couple of shots at Vlad] [Vlad was watching DP talk, unimpressed. He becomes intangible, clearly no longer interested in Ben, allowing him to plummet to his death] [After becoming tangible again, and without breaking eye contact, in a flash of pink energy, Vlad is right in front of Deadpool, and violently pins him to a wall] DP: AWH, you can teleport?! That's not even fair!! VLAD: [close to Deadpools face, crushing his neck harder] No. It isn't. And that's just how I like it. DP: [choking] [thinking] don't say harder daddy don't say harder daddy don't say harder daddy [cut to Ben falling through the air, desperately, repeatedly smacking the Omnitrix] BEN: PLEASE WORK PLEASE WORK PL-- [Danny swoops in and catches him] BEN: [clinging to Danny, obviously spooked but trying to be cool] Thanks! DANNY: [amused] Don't mention it. [Danny puts Ben down on the ground] BEN: Um..where are your legs? DANNY: Oh, they uh...they just do that sometimes. DANNY: Is something wrong with your watch? BEN: [glares at the Omnitrix] It just does this, sometimes. [Danny sees something coming] DANNY: Well you'd better fix it fast! [Ben looks up just as Danny turns them both intangible, seconds before Deadpool is sent hurtling through them and into the ground] [BEN is grinning, watching his hands as they turn re-tangible] BEN: That is SO COOL! I've only ever gotten to do that to myself! Y'know, as an alien! [DANNY was looking at DP's crater, but turns to BEN, surprised at the genuine enthusiasm] DANNY: [maybe blushing a little?] Uh, thanks! [BEN grins at him, and Danny smiles back. They're cute.] [Deadpool's hand pops out of the crater, waving (flailing)...reassuringly?] DP: Don't worry about me, all he did was break [groans] most of my bones. [Danny grabs Ben and pulls him out of the way before Vlad fires an energy blast at Deadpool] VLAD: Still think you can manage without superpowers? [DP sits up painfully and slowly, and coughs] DP: Ac-- [Vlad hits him with a copious amount of energy blasts for an unnecessarily long time as he slowly lowers to the ground] [When Vlad lands and stops firing, he turns around to face Danny and Ben] VLAD: Where were we, Daniel? [Danny is horrified. He's gripping a fistful of Ben's shirt like his life depends on it, expecting to have to save him a third time. Ben is a bit shaken but still determined, and holds his hand at the ready over the Omnitrix] VLAD: ...That was rhetorical, my boy. I had just asked you a very simple question. VLAD: [turning his gaze to Ben] And I don't want to repeat myself. [Ben is not quite picking up on Vlad's thinly veiled threat. Danny, bug-eyed, follows Vlad's gaze to Ben, and is clearly absolutely terrified to be responsible for the deaths of two people he just met. Danny tightens his grip on Ben's shirt.] DANNY: ...I-- [a gunshot hits Vlad from behind. Vlad is completely shocked] [behind him, DEADPOOL is sitting up in the crater, charred to all hell but somehow still alive. He appears to only have one (barely) functioning arm left, which is holding the smoking gun] DP: I never said I didn't have any superpowers, jackass. [DP narrows his eyes] DP: I just like guns. [DP tries to shoot VLAD a few more times, but VLAD has turned intangible, and flies to a safer distance] Vlads gonna say some shit and run off Im not done yet but hoo boy. Oh man.

[an-american-teen-against-crime]

Hi! So I’m conducting kind of a survey/study? Can you rank the games in order from best to worst in your eyes? A simple list will suffice

AHH sorry this took me so long to finally do haha but I finally got it done! (this was. extremely difficult . I struggle) (also sorry some of my notes got kinda long so you can just skip ‘em if you wanna)

1. TRN- it has to be. My list has changed so much over the years and SPY was actually here once, but I’ve realized that this is the one that has stuck at the top throughout the years. It’s just SO. GOOD. from the music, plot, characters, hardy boys, setting, mystery, AUGH it’s amazing

2. SHA- I know this one is quite controversial in the fandom (chores.) but this had always been one of the top for me. It reminds me of my childhood (rip) and I just adore every single setting in this game- the atmosphere is wonderful. I just really adore the plot as well as the Dirk and Francis storyline, as well as the old west feeling (still not over the cliff dwellings or Dry Creek). THIS GAME MAKES ME V HAPPY

3. MHM- this was tough, but this was not only my first game but also it still holds up for me. It’s super old but I just adore the setting and gameplay, the spooks are top shelf and I just adore the feeling of this game from it’s puzzles and storyline. 

4. GTH- I have for sure played this game way too often, but I love it. The vibes in this game are TOP NOTCH, and I will never forget my first playthrough of this game. The story, the charACTERS, setting, music, is all so good. The puzzles tho are a bit of a draw back but I still love this game. 

5. SPY- I felt weird about have two “newer” games in my top five, but I genuinely love this game. It’s moved down since I’ve realized I kinda dislike the puzzles, but the spy aesthetic and the story of Nancy’s mom PLUS the Revenant/Colony Operation is SO INTERESTING to me. Not to mention this game has a unique story structure in the fact that Nancy solving the mystery is actually helping the bad guys which is really unique. I feel like this game also characterizes Nancy really well which I adore. 

6. CUR- So I actually thought this would be much lower on my list because I played this when I was much older than the other ones, so it has less nostalgia for me, but it still has some. (plus a lot of the game was spoiled for me before I played it because I watched a walkthrough of it. Dumb middle school Cambria WHY DID YOU DO THAT) The plot structure and just...the puzzles and how the whole game fits together is so amazing and the music/atmosphere/aesthetic is just SO AWESOME. Genuinely a spooky game and I adore it for that.

7. FIN- I adore this game, the plot, the timer/three days, the characters, setting, everything is awesome. I feel it’s pretty unique to the series which makes it even more special and its just SO GOOD. Plus it has Nick Falcone who is one of the best characters of all time. 

8. DDI- the atmosphere, THE MYSTERY, the whole setting it’s all just. wonderful. I love BEING in this game, and I feel like it’s one of those mysteries that really represents the series as a whole. 

9. TRT- Just like DDI I feel like this game really is a really good representation of these games as a series. It has everything that makes a good Nancy Drew game and it’s atmosphere is wonderful. I also love the history and while it’s way more treasure hunt like than mystery it does have good mystery elements and it’s a very cozy game.

10. SSH- I am shocked this game is so high, and I actually didn’t like it that much on my first playthrough. This is a game that gets better the more you play it because you uncover so much more- I love the museum and all the history, the social commentary, and the mystery IS SO INTERESTING. Like everything with Henrik trying to stop Sinclair and like you know there’s someone bad out there doing this stuff but you’re not sure who, and there’s all this information you uncover AHH. I know some don’t like the phone convos but I feel like tracking down all the different pieces opens up Nancy’s world so much and it makes it feel real. Also just the idea that you have to track them all down is so cool to me. Also the ending is freaky and gives me anxiety to this day.

11. SEA- this game makes me so happy, I adore Iceland, the setting, the story, the ship, the characters, ALL FABULOUS! Some of the puzzles are annoying but that’s a trend for the later games.

12. STFD- it shouldn’t be so high on the list probably but the mystery and plot line is always really fun for me. The whole premise, locations and iconic moments in this game are so special to me. I love just being in the game, it’s so simplistic. Plus, Dwayne Powers.

 13. WAC- this is the game I always fall back on to play. It’s further down simply because the puzzles are a little annoying at times, but the setting is great and I adore the school feeling of this game. It just always has been a game that has stuck out in my mind ever since it came out.

14. CLK- clk is so nostalgic for me, I literally don’t care about the time travel bit because it reminds me so much of reading the books. I love the town, the mystery, and it’s one of those games I can just relax in. You can spend hourS in this game and seriously do nothing but fish, deliver telegrams and play golf. Maybe a game of bard bounce in there too. 

15. SAW- I used to feel medium about this game, but as of my most recent replay, I’ve found I LOVE it. The setting is so freaky and I actually enjoy most of the puzzles. It just has this weird off feeling to it where you’re constantly being told everything is fine when everything is definitely not fine. I honestly wanna make a separate post just for this game, I have so many feelings on it haha.

16. DED- I love the feeling of this game, from it’s Tesla theme, to it’s puzzles, and also it’s a murder mystery which is super interesting. The mystery and gameplay is so fun for me, honestly not sure why.

17. CRY- I love this game’s atmosphere so so much, and a lot of the puzzles are really fun. The whole legend of the skull is fascinating and it has a great spooky vibe to it. However I feel like the plot is a bit weak and I am still salty Nancy doesn’t help Henry more. But also it has Henry Bolet.

18. TMB- I love Egyptology, I love archaeology, and this game is super fun to me for those reasons. the whole idea of the curse is spoopy and the puzzles are pretty cool too. I love both Dylan and Jamilla so that bumps this game up as well. 

19. VEN- I have wanted to go to Venice ever since I played this game, I feel it does a perfect job of making you feel like you’re really there. I love the whole spy aspects, and while some of the puzzles are EXTREMELY annoying it’s a really exciting game.

20. DOG- The vibe of this game is off the charts, I love the history and the mystery is kinda weird but leads you to a treasure hunt which is pretty interesting. I love the puzzles in this game and while the characters are kinda annoying I feel like this game is just so grounded and interesting. 

21. CAP- some stuff in this game is kinda dumb (PUZZLES. WHO PUT THEM THERE I NEED TO KNOW)  but the whole fairytale vibe is great, and I love the fact that Nancy is trying to track down a cryptid. I also kind of hate the culprit motivation, but it is what it is.

22. ICE- this is actually a pretty well put together game, I like the location, and the mystery is nice. It’s one of those that I really question the whole idea of why Nancy is solving the puzzles? Like I get it that she’s trying to get into the needle it’s just...sorta convoluted. Also some of the puzzles are really annoying in this game haha.

23. LIE- pains me to put this game so low on the list, but I freaking hate the puzzles in this game. I like the museum puzzles, and that’s IT. The set has no. reason. to have that weird of puzzles. This is one of those games that would have been better with the treatment of having more practical puzzles like the older games. Anyways, I still love the setting, the characters, and the fact that it’s in Greece, in a museum and has a play about a greek myth makes me really enjoy this game. Plus, I do like the whole villain plot and the ending you start feeling really trapped and freaked out which is exciting. 

24. ASH- I get why people love this game, I really do, but for some reason I always drag my feet to play it. It still is super interesting though from the mystery, characters, bad guy plan, and it has a good classic mystery vibe. I think I just have to be in the right mood to play it.

25. TOT- I actually do enjoy playing this game but the puzzles/chores can be really annoying, and I feel there needs to be more mystery. However I actually do enjoy the setting a lot and there’s something special about it to me. Plus I like to look at the clouds. :3

26. DAN- I like that it reminds me of Paris because it got that vibe, the history and locations are very cool, and I really enjoy being in the game. However the mystery is ditched for Nancy trying to solve the Noisette stuff which is annoying and weird and I feel like this game is a bit unfocused which bugs me. Plus I can’t remember a single puzzle right now other than that horrible wall clock puzzle.

27. MED- Yes, this game is a hot mess and I’m still upset about Sonny, but I actually really enjoy the location and puzzles of this game, it’s just really fun to be in. Also the reality tv show concept is fun. Wish the sheep were alive though.

28. HAU- I like a lot about this game but at the same time it feels very...small? Idk. I just feel like the whole game is Nancy running around on the moors solving random puzzles she just finds in the hopes of finding Matt. It’s weird. I do like the vibe tho and Fiona is a bit freaky. Plus, sheep.

29. CAR- peoplearegoingtomurdermeIwillbethenextjake listen I for some reason feel just meh about this game, idk if it’s just Joy, the location, or WHAT but for some reason it’s mostly meh for me. There’s bits that are fun and I always liked it when I was younger but for some reason it doesn’t do it for me. But I can get why people really like it! 

30. SCK: The vibes are great, the ending is v exciting, and I feel like the school is very creepy and the diner is a solid location. The whole mystery of how Jake was blackmailing everyone and the drug plotline is super interesting to me and while the disk switching drives me NUTS I really like pulling this one out just to feel like I’m in the 90s.

31. CRE- I think this game is fun and has some iconic bits to it, along with the fact I could spend hours at Big Island Mike’s Immersion Excursions, buT the fact is the mystery is freaking weird and I don’t like bugs. But we did get Big Island Mike. 

32. MID- Listen, this game is a good video game, but it’s a bad Nancy Drew game. I liked my first playthrough of this game, I really did, but theres just so many problems with it and it’s so upsetting to see what’s become of the series. You can tell that it wasn’t made by the same people and it doesn’t have the classic ND charm. There are a lot of plotholes and random stuff like the Hardy’s personalities in this game don’t make sense. However there are a lot of stuff that it enjoyable about this game and I will still replay it. It’s just kinda sad.

33. SCK Remastered: Lower than the OG because Beech is dumb and they changed the ending. Also some of the old magic is gone, and all the characters are way less likeable. However it did explain some stuff about Jake so there is that. 

34. RAN- It’s still fun at times and I like the location but the puzzles will be a thorn in my side till the day I die. Also the mystery is just meh. And it needed more characters, that’s just a fact. 

I guarantee that this will probably change by the time we are done with this playthrough, but until then this is my listing. I think it’s really a testament to the games though that there is no game I consider unplayable. SCK could be that game but I am willing to do the disk switching lol.

[etirabys]

guuuuys, this arc in the first quarter of It where a preteen boy makes friends for the first time in his life is so fucking good. I quote a lot of stuff but that’s because it’s amazing!!! They’re such good kids!

If someone had asked him, “Ben, are you lonely?,” he would have looked at that someone with real surprise. The question had never even occurred to him. He had no friends, but he had his books and his dreams; he had his Revell models; he had a gigantic set of Lincoln Logs and built all sorts of stuff with them. His mother had exclaimed more than once that Ben’s Lincoln Logs houses looked better than some real ones that came from blueprints. He had a pretty good Erector Set, too. He was hoping for the Super Set when his birthday came around in October. With that one you could build a clock that really told time and a car with real gears in it. Lonely? he might have asked in return, honestly foozled. Huh? What?

A child blind from birth doesn’t even know he’s blind until someone tells him. Even then he has only the most academic idea of what blindness is; only the formerly sighted have a real grip on the thing. Ben Hanscom had no sense of being lonely because he had never been anything but. If the condition had been new, or more localized, he might have understood, but loneliness both encompassed his life and overreached it. It simply was, like his double-jointed thumb or the funny little jag inside one of his front teeth, the little jag his tongue began running over whenever he was nervous.

He’s polite and smart and the grownups like him!

“Hullo, Benny,” Mrs. Starrett said. Like Mrs. Douglas at school, she genuinely liked Ben. Grownups, especially those who sometimes needed to discipline children as part of their jobs, generally liked him, because he was polite, soft-spoken, thoughtful, sometimes even funny in a very quiet way. These were all the same reasons most kids thought he was a puke.

Then, after getting beaten up by a pack of older kids, he happens upon and bonds with two other kids who were building a dam in the stream that got wrecked by the same bullies

Both Bill and Eddie burst out laughing this time, and Ben joined them. It hurt his stomach to laugh but he laughed anyway, shrilly and a little hysterically. Finally he had to sit down on the bank, and the plopping sound his butt made when it hit the dirt got him going all over again. He liked the way his laughter sounded with theirs. It was a sound he had never heard before: not mingled laughter—he had heard that lots of times—but mingled laughter of which his own was a part.

And he helps rebuild the dam, with a much better design – his spatial intelligence / building-thinking is very good, and he’ll be a renowned architect in his adult life

“Yeah, I know him,” Ben said. “You guys come down here a lot, huh?” The idea fascinated him—and made him feel a stupid sort of longing as well.

“Puh-Puh-Pretty much,” Bill said. “Wuh-Why d-don’t you c-c-come back down tuh-huh-morrow? M-Me and E-E-Eddie were tuh-trying to make a duh-duh-ham.”

Ben could say nothing. He was astounded not only by the offer but by the simple and unstudied casualness with which it had come.

(QUOTER’S NOTE: AT THIS POINT I SHIPPED THEM)

“Maybe we ought to do something else,” Eddie said. “The dam wasn’t working so hot anyway.”

Ben got up and walked down to the stream, brushing the dirt from his huge hams. There were still matted piles of small branches at either side of the stream, but anything else they’d put together had washed away.

“You ought to have some boards,” Ben said. “Get boards and put em in a row . . . facing each other . . . like the bread of a sandwich.”

Bill and Eddie were looking at him, puzzled. Ben dropped to one knee. “Look,” he said. “Boards here and here. You stick em in the streambed facing each other. Okay? Then, before the water can wash them away, you fill up the space between them with rocks and sand—”

“Wuh-Wuh-We,” Bill said.

“Huh?”

“Wuh-We do it.”

“Oh,” Ben said, feeling (and looking, he was sure) extremely stupid. But he didn’t care if he looked stupid, because he suddenly felt very happy. He couldn’t even remember the last time he felt this happy. “Yeah. We. Anyway, if you—we—fill up the space in between with rocks and stuff, it’ll stay. The upstream board will lean back against the rocks and dirt as the water piles up. The second board would tilt back and wash away after awhile, I guess, but if we had a third board . . . well, look.”

He drew in the dirt with a stick. Bill and Eddie Kaspbrak leaned over and studied this little drawing with sober interest:

“You ever built a dam before?” Eddie asked. His tone was respectful, almost awed.

“Nope.”

“Then h-h-how do you know this’ll w-w-work?”

Ben looked at Bill, puzzled. “Sure it will,” he said. “Why wouldn’t it?”

“But h-how do you nuh-nuh-know?” Bill asked. Ben recognized the tone of the question as one not of sarcastic disbelief but honest interest. “H-How can y-you tell?”

“I just know,” Ben said. He looked down at his drawing in the dirt again as if to confirm it to himself. He had never seen a cofferdam in his life, either in diagram or in fact, and had no idea that he had just drawn a pretty fair representation of one.

he’s so nice and smart and lonely and he’s discovering friendship for the first time this summer – augh!! In between attacks from the shapeshifting man-eating clown, this is such a heartwarming novel!

[dreamtofbluebirds]

For a Burnish to meld with a Burning Rescue team, a lot of hurdles laid in place. It didn’t make sense for so much of it to be torn down with the Second World Blaze--by all rights, it would’ve made sense if Captain Ignis had thrown him out of the garage the second Lio stepped foot in it. Gueira and Meis had tensed beside him as the stoic man stared, and Galo--forever heedless to any scrutiny though clearly a little unnerved if his higher pitch meant anything--prattled on about where everything was and what their morning routine was.

And then, just like that, Ignis was giving them temporary fire fighting outfits and going back to his office. Maybe the speechless way he accepted came off as unusual--his generals were asking him in a flash if any of this was actually okay.

Did they really belong here?

A few days passed and they would all be exchanging lively conversations in the break room. It wasn’t enough of a green light for him. He always had questions, and even if he knew most answers were obvious, it didn’t do well to always assume--something Galo was definitely teaching him to reach past. The answer wouldn’t come from Ignis--instead, it came from Aina one day, when the rest of the guys were sleeping off their shift.

She’d sat down next to him as he tinkered with one of the mechs. He had a basic idea of how they worked but fighting one and piloting one were different things. The instruction manual in his hands was... hardly a manual and more like Lucia’s overly-emphatic boasting about what it could do. Or, what it should do, but they’d already tested that some flames could still slice through if concentrated enough. Not many Burnish were as strong as Lio, and even fewer now that they were relearning how to summon the fire without the Promare, but was it really necessary to write it all down...?

“Couldn’t sleep either?” Her voice was soft. He’d almost excuse it as her trying not to wake anyone up, but they were mostly heavy sleepers and the garage was pretty decently isolated from the quarters... not that he doubted his generals would hear it if something happened. He must have looked confused because she continued. “It’s fine, we all struggled with Lucia’s instructions. I never was good at the mech part so I took overwatch.” Her thumb pointed toward the flying vehicle she took charge of.

“It can’t be that hard if Galo figured it out.” Lovingly stated, of course; she seemed to catch that despite how casually he tried to make it sound.

“Well, if her newest invention pays off, you’ll be able to pilot one of these with your flames only. It’ll be like a miniature Deus Ex Machina.” She giggled.

“Don’t remind me of those crazy names.” The manual was tossed aside.

“It could be worse. She could strap you in with Galo.”

Honestly, he felt a bit offended at how sly how expression became. “No. And he’s able to handle himself.”

As though this exchange had gotten the slightest bit awkward, Aina waved off the topic and switched gears. “Yeah, he’s surprisingly good at that. He’s always getting into trouble yet he somehow stays out of it on his time off.” Her expression seemed... almost distant.

“...Is something bugging you?” He could only hope he didn’t sound annoyed. No, her company wasn’t really bothering him right now.

Driving straight to the point seemed to take her off guard a bit. “Oh uh, well... Boy, you make it hard to beat around the bush, haha...” She’d drop her chin and sigh, and he considered that she may have been about to tell him she couldn’t stand his face on the team. “...I’ve been thinking.”

Had to be.

“Galo always wanted to make someone proud of him. That person was you-know-who, for as long as I’ve known him. But he never really... got anything, then we found out everything and yeah.”

Lio’s whole body tensed. He could feel the fire on his tongue at the mere hint of that man, but he bit it back, smothering it to keep it under control.

“And you have every right to be pissed about it. But I mean--oh god, this is awkward.” She put her head in her hands. Whatever she was trying to say, it seemed... difficult to.

“Why are you bringing it up?”

“Because he practically adores you and I’ve never seen him happier!” Her words burst out. “Like, I know that’s probably obvious and all, but I mean--he was really happy when he joined the team too but it always felt like something was missing. We all chalked it up to him just not having family to go back to and... maybe we were like a family to him.”

“I... figured as much. Losing family stays with you.”

“If almost losing them is anything like it, yeah, I bet it does.” Her hand clutched at her pants leg. “Augh, this is all coming out wrong. Anyway, you’re family too... alright?”

Lio had expected some sort of previous-crush confession for Galo, or at best, a simple ‘don’t you dare hurt him’, but this? He choked on his words, amethyst eyes going wide. “I really don’t understand.”

“I know, I don’t either! But for some reason it feels like you’ve always been on this team. You and Geira and Meis. It’s almost uncanny, really. You and Galo are so much more alike than I’d have thought when we first saw you. So I just...” She bit her lip. “If... you also feel like you’re alone. You’re not, okay? We’re a team now.”

Her eyes shined with an intensity he had seen so many times on on the Burnish. Passion, lighting up their very soul. Her face suddenly twisted into one of concern, and he noticed--belatedly--that something was running down his cheek.

“I came off too strong, didn’t I?”

“...A bit, yes.” He’d wipe away the evidence. Family... He’d given up on that concept long ago when he’d lost his parents. To have it now, here of all places--it seemed unreal. More unreal than a giant fire-mech punching the planet. He’d just been hoping they would tolerate him, not truly accept him. Were they really not holding their tongues just because of Galo? Was it all genuine...? He took a steady breath and allowed himself to open up. “When the Burnish find their flames, we watch our families fall apart or we... hurt someone else’s. Those first few minutes were terrifying for us and the promare and it didn’t get any better, we just got better at moving. Children who awakened to it lost their parents quickly. I was the same.” He couldn’t bring himself to be more specific. “We live the rest of our lives believing that there is no happy ending for us, and certainly no family to return to. It... means a lot to me to hear that.” He’d do his best to catch her gaze and hold it, hoping to convey something in it.

“Come here.” She didn’t quite ask, but she also moved slowly enough he could have stopped her. He’d find himself staring at her shoulder, warm arms wrapped around his small frame. “You deserve to be happy, too.”

For once in his life, he believed it.