#I don’t personally ship them but I love their bond in the gang

[woodlnds]

“Charles, you said you’d ride with me.”

“I did, Arthur. Always.”

© Partial background belongs to Rockstar Games

[illuminatedquill]

Hey, Sabezra gang.

I know we’re all still recovering from the events of the past week. Hope everyone is feeling better.

Just want to send a reminder that, yes, the cast of Ahsoka does seem to be all in on the other ship. Which is great! Very cool and heart-warming to see the support for that in this day and age. We all have our preferences and that’s fine.

But. Remember this:

Most of the characters in the actual narrative of Ahsoka are pointing to a Sabezra end-game.

Which - you know - is arguably more important. The story is saying something else is going on with Sabine’s feelings for Ezra.

I’ve written about this before but even Thrawn is amazed at how far Sabine went to find Ezra.

I mean, look at this.

Hera clocks Sabine from the get-go: “She’ll do it for Ezra.”

Ahsoka: “I know how much Ezra means to you. But you need to put aside your personal feelings.”

Baylon: “Do it. For Ezra.”/“Her focus on finding Ezra Bridger blinds her.”

Shin: “Do you know the one she so desperately seeks?”

Huyang: [“No Thrawn. No threat of war.”] “Also means no Ezra. Perhaps, for Sabine, she had no other choice.”

Thrawn: “You have gambled the fate of your galaxy on that belief.”

Six. Six major characters in the show, all of them talking around the edges of this. Can’t quite see it or understand it, but they know it’s there.

You guys know how black holes are detected? Because you can’t physically see them.

They’re detected by the effects on their surroundings.

Sabine’s emotions - her feelings - about Ezra, have had such a huge effect on everything around her.

Despite the disaster of this line:

We get the rest of the season to prove that Sabine is definitely holding a burning torch for her lost friend.

So, even if Ezra wasn’t being evasive about his true feelings - which I highly doubt - then Sabine clearly does not reciprocate the sibling bond (and she never did!).

Ezra is special to her in a way that none of the rest are: Hera, Ahsoka, Jacen, Zeb, and Chopper. Her Ghost family.

She knew this. And handed over the map, anyway.

And, if nothing else, look at her eyes when it comes to Ezra:

“The eyes shout, what the lips fear to say.”

- William Henry

I know we don’t trust Filoni, but there are so many ways he could have killed this ship stone cold dead.

But he didn’t.

He gave us this Sabine instead. Desperate, angry, fierce and unhinged - but she knows it and is fighting tooth and nail to hang on one more day to be reunited with Ezra.

Granted, a second season could re-contextualize/ret-con all this. But, that’s a lot of work. And, again, if Filoni really wanted to he could have killed this ship in a more overt fashion way earlier. Like, even back during Rebels.

But he kept it open. And he wrote Sabine the way she is for this first season.

If Sabine’s actions come off as desperately being in love . . . then they probably are. Can’t fault us for seeing it that way. That’s the writing, the acting, and the directing. All pointing to one thing.

Endgame.

[meeks-just-wants-to-scroll]

i am intrigued in micah x bill (belliamson? bicah??) but does vigorous fucking accidentally result of both finding a reason to live and becoming better people or do they make each other worse?? is it a fling or do they catch feels?? i want the tea on your take

Haha well my take depends on what media is present. The ship is so under appreciated that I just agree with whatever media I can find. I do love the existence of multiple takes on a ship! diversify in a fandom breeds innovation and community. I will tell you my take on what you outlined.

- one interpretation I have seen is the idea that they started some sort of gay sex truce and accidentally became closer because of it. I constantly think back to Micah openly telling Bill he looks nice and doubling down that he is being honest when Bill says he doesn’t believe what he says. ^.^ this was my catalyst for the ship.

Micah (semi-closeted bisexual?) and Bill (closeted gay) agreeing to have sex together also makes sense because although Micah and Bill snap teeth at each other often, I feel like Bill is the closest person (who isn’t Dutch) Micah has. Micah is not exactly Bill’s friend, but Micah and Bill could bond if they were drunk. Maybe they bond over being bootlickers to Dutch, who knows!

- as for if their friend with benefits situation makes them better or worse people is up to the person shipping them. I like both takes!

I don’t think either of them would inherently fix the other magically, but I can see having someone in your corner for Micah and Bill would be ground breaking because both of them have been pretty lonely whether they admit it or not. I can see both of them making small, slow efforts to not piss off the other as much. Micah stops kicking Cain because Bill REALLY hated that. Now Micah just jealously stink eyes the dog whenever he’s getting all of Bill’s attention. Bill is an asshole in his own way but he isn’t as openly antagonizing as Micah is (seriously, he is a whole other level of stirring the plot). Bill is maybe more honest and believing of Micah when Micah gives him crumbs of kindness, like compliments. The both of them need to open up and make a modicum of effort to maintain a friendship.

I haven’t seen a lot of media around Bill x Micah resulting in them improving into better people. I would be interested to see some if people find it.

- the interpretation I enjoy a lot is them being two guys who revel in their cruddy behavior because the entire gang tolerated them at best. Instead of improving as people, they accept that having this asshole as a fuck-buddy buddy is better than being alone. They aren’t better as people, their asshole behavior is just consolidated on other people as opposed to each other.

Bill and Micah being buddies came to me during the coach robbery in chapter 4. I really liked their dynamic with Arthur and how Micah + Bill could team up and make fun of Arthur because they both dislike him, but at the same time Bill could agree with Arthur to call Micah out on his gross behavior, vise versa, Micah and Arthur can agree and poke fun at Bill to get the hothead to take the bait and make a fool of himself. Perhaps Mr. Black and Mr. White is a comparison that isn’t too far off; Micah and Bill will argue and squabble but in the end they like the other person’s guts.

- as for fling vs serious, I think Micah would firmly be opposed to a serious relationship. If he were to soften to the idea of it, it would have to be after a lot of time and many small catalysts to initiate changes in him. Little domino trails that eventually lead to Micah opening himself to real connection. It definitely was a fling initially. I mean… look at Bill. He is a walking rainbow flag saying “please. I need to be bedded.” Micah is no fool and he knows if he plays his cards right, he could get a sweet deal out of the situation. Even if their situationship turned out to be mediocre, it beats lonely masturbation and Micah making a fool of himself trying to flirt with Sadie, Abigail, Susan, and Mary.

[numbknee]

Enough of the suffering thru the asks abt all the other cartman ships, what abt your brain rot? 🥺 what *are* your thoughts on kyman?? Go ham dude

ooooh dear... where to begin with the kyman brainrot....... I guess I’ll start at the beginning. VERY LONG POST under the cut. this is basically my kyman meta magnum opus lmao

I’ve talked about this ad nauseam before, but I really, REALLY didn’t want to get into south park. I had only ever watched like 2 full episodes before 2021 and I simply did not understand the appeal. I just thought the draw to the show was the shock factors: gross-out humor, children swearing and committing violence, and blatant bigotry played for laughs. I didn’t understand how it could be so popular other than “well I guess there are lots of horrible people out there who like this horrible show.” 

I grew up in a very WASP-y town and had peers in elementary/middle school who learned about the existence of antisemitism and other bigotries through south park. because kids are stupid and don’t understand satire, many of them took it at face value and were able to have shittons of words added to their vocabulary to put people down and insult them. it was horrible tbh. and I hated the show for that, even as a young kid. I personally wasn’t perfect by any means but even as a snot-nosed, extremely sheltered little white girl I knew that you just shouldn’t do that shit. our school system in particular lauded the “golden rule” constantly (we had to do a school-specific pledge after the pledge of allegiance every day... yeah I know, very american) and I was like “cmon, you guys can’t even follow that ONE RULE to be a semi-decent human being?? really??”

anyway at the end of 2021, my younger brother asked me to watch the post-covid specials with him and he was very excited about it. I was immediately hesitant, especially because in recent years he has become alarmingly incel-y and took a hard turn to the right while I became a leftist. I reluctantly agreed to sit through it to try to understand him more because, even though his political ideology sucks ass, he’s still my brother and I do love him. 

so I watched the specials, and I came out the other side of it shell-shocked with how surprisingly good the writing was. THIS stupid show, the show that all this time I thought was bottom-of-the-barrel comedy, was... GOOD??? particularly regarding CARTMAN?? 

the only things I knew about cartman going into it were the following: he’s fat, he says the name “kyle” weird, and he’s a horrible antisemite. and they made him grow up to be a freaking RABBI. it completely caught me off guard and *gasp* actually made me laugh???? what???? 

there were plenty of other things I loved about the post-covid specials, like my depressed ass relating WAAAY too hard with stan, the extremely on-the-nose satire of the state of advertisement/capitalism with the stupid “denny’s applebee’s max” restaurant chain gag and all the old people being shoved into a giant prison retirement home once they aren’t productive anymore, kenny getting sick of the gang’s bullshit and writing “FUCK THESE HOES” on a beloved childhood photo, butters become a snake-oil salesman for NFTs, kyle being told to “think like a kid” and like 2 seconds later realizing they need to look up kenny’s ass. I could go on but you get the point. 

I liked it way more than I thought I ever would. and obviously, I often find south park funny for different reasons than my brother does because matt & trey are very good at toeing the line of appealing to both sides of the american political spectrum, but it’s become a point of bonding between us in the year since I started watching the show and I’m grateful for that. 

of course, since i’m terminally on tumblr and ao3, I also started to dive into the fandom of south park. I had heard about the whole creek thing years ago and waved it off as a stupid gag but then I realized wait, holy shit, there’s actually a GIGANTIC shipping culture around south park??? at first I got into style because of the interesting concept of post-covid kyle and stan reconnecting after decades apart and not being the same people they used to be but trying to make it work anyway (I even wrote a fic about it ahahaa...) 

but after a while I got tired of the ship because as I watched the rest of the show, I realized their relationship just wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be. like they’re best friends but... why? because they’ve known each other forever? they both like video games? they make fun of cartman together? the fact they’re “super-best-friends” is kind of taken for granted by the show and the audience, but imo matt and trey never really explore the intricacies of their relationship very much. y’all can disagree with me on this but idk, all I know is that I got bored with style as a ship after like 2 months.

while scrolling through ao3 and tumblr, I ran across kyman fics/fanart for the first time back in february or so. at first I was appalled because... why the everloving fuck would you ship the blatant antisemite with the jewish kid??? really???? isn’t style a much better choice??? but sheer curiosity got the better of me, so I did what I always do when I’m curious about a ship: select for fics with kyle broflovski/eric cartman, sort by kudos, and read the first result (or in this case the second because the first had creek as the main ship). y’all know which fic that is if you’ve even slightly gotten into kyman. it was interesting, but I personally didn’t see them as the actual characters from the show in that fic. they were fandom versions of kyle and cartman, with their personalities changed enough to fit the standard mlm shipping dynamic that’s popular in fandom spaces (particularly regarding dom/sub aspects). I’ve seen it happen in plenty of other fandoms so I wasn’t surprised, but I still couldn’t see how it could possibly work if one were to use their canon character depictions. 

all the while I was making my way through episodes of the show cuz it’s long af, and over time I became more and more intrigued with kyle and cartman’s relationship. cartman quickly became my favorite character in the show because of how fucking complex and layered his personality is (see my tags on this post), and though kyle despises cartman in countless ways, he still is the only one who consistently tries to find goodness in him, tries to make him change for the better, saves him when no one else will, and remains his friend despite everything. it’s a remarkably complex dynamic.

little hints of kyman started creeping up on me: cartman being frequently queer-coded as a closeted gay kid. kyle getting extremely jealous of cartman and heidi’s relationship. both of them on separate occasions saving the other from death or injury without wanting any credit for it or lording it over each other. “we've been through a lot together, and... maybe that alone doesn't make us friends, but it makes us something” 

needless to say, I started to get it. and then I encountered the straw that broke the camel’s back: “know your enemy” by elsen on ao3. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve read that fic probably over a dozen times. it was shockingly well-written and so in-tune with the style and tone of the show that I was like “is this person spirit-channelling trey parker or something wtf???” and all of a sudden, I could see how, in a different universe, kyman could actually be an endgame ship. 

what sold me on it the most was how in-character it seemed for cartman to be a repressed, denial-ridden sub, especially regarding his desired relationship with kyle. there’s plenty of canon evidence that cartman has a secret crush on kyle (see this vid by johnny 2 cellos), but there’s no way that kyle could reciprocate those feelings, right?? imo kyle would probably rather die than enter a romantic relationship with cartman where he had to submit to him all the time, but if cartman would want kyle to be dominant over him??? where kyle has control and is able to curb cartman’s problematic behavior as he sees fit??? that opens up a whole other door of possibilities.

I think what kyle wants more than anything else in the world regarding cartman is for the goodness he sees deep down inside him to come to the surface, and for kyle to be the one to guide him (or force him when necessary) to becoming a better person through love and patience and inherent understanding of his fucked up little head??? I can definitely see kyle wanting that (especially since I see kyle as a repressed, denial-ridden sadist/dom lmao; see this post for my thoughts on that). 

it was all downhill from there. I found tons of other cool kyman shippers on tumblr and twitter whose writing and fanart helped suck me in even more and I’ve been stuck in kyman hell ever since. special shoutout to the asker for her kyman analysis posts that inspired this fic I wrote! love u boo <3

ANYWAY that’s how I became a whore for kyman lolololol ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ have a nice day everybody

[urlocalnonbinarybastardwrites]

hey! saw that your requests for an outsiders ship was open, and wanted to try my hand. as a fellow outsiders writer, i really admire your work, and think it's accurate and concise to the point where i can immerse myself and laugh with your writing at the same time

appearance: i'm a 5'9 trans (ftm) teenager with the messiness brown hair possible, brown eyes, and skin tags around/on my neck. i don't care much for labels on my sexuality, but i guess the closest i could get would be pansexual. i simply like who i like, although most of the time that turns out to be guys

personality: i enjoy both educated and stupid humor, and find myself dipping into both as a way to make those around me laugh. i live life for the bit, but also can get serious. the kind of person who says they hate their friends, but the moment they genuinely need something, i won't hesitate to offer a hand. i've got autism, with a habit by proxy to lose concentration a lot and get into my head beyond belief; often leading to me thinking about scenarios revolving media i'm obsessed with at the time, but thats more of a personal thing. i have a bond with music like no other, and a strong love for baggy clothes that you could find on a thrift store rack for dirt cheap. i don't like physical touch at all, to the point where it's physically uncomfortable for me, and my love language is gift giving

thanks for reading my long ask submission, and have a great day (genuine)

Your Outsiders Ship: Johnny Cade

Because we are mutuals, you get to have an analysis





Explanation: starting off with looks, I think that he would like your height because I feel like he’s the type of guy who would like the fact that you’re taller than him, but not by too much and it just makes him more comfortable in general to be around you. He also loves your skin tags and thinks that they’re adorable and lives for your constantly messy hair because he just thinks it’s the cutest thing ever he would love it and honestly, I think that if you like styled it one day or did anything with it, he would instantly notice. Also about your skin tag he thinks they’re adorable, but he would never touch them because he’s the type of guy that knows about your sensitivity thing and I don’t think he would ever be a person that would kind of try to enact touching in the first place, so I feel like he would catch on the fact that you don’t want to be touched very quickly because he, wouldn’t really go for it anyway, so neither of you guys would touch each other but if you ever did get into a relationship where you were comfortable with him touching you it would be so stupid for him because he would literally just be like you guys would already be holding hands and he would keep asking about it like are you sure this is OK and you’re like Johnny we’ve been holding hands for 10 minutes straight. I’m OK with it anyway I just think that he would be super careful about that boundary and just so sensitive as to not offend you or anything like that or violate. He loves both of your humor styles and whenever you get to your more academic humor I feel like he’d be a little bit slow to get it so you might need to explain some things to him, but as soon as he does, get the joke. He’s laughing his ass off, but he does always get stupid humor and I feel like you guys could definitely just, don’t relate to certain things like that and being your own little world and the gang is pretty happy that he found someone like you can just relate and connect so well to him. I think you guys would mutually tease each other and are super good at not overstepping any boundaries. I think you guys have various established good even subconscious boundaries that you both very much respect so joking around would never be a problem if you were worried about him accidentally making a joke that goes too deep or vice versa. He really appreciates that you’re someone that he can always rely on and he can be the exact same for you because he’s you know the gang’s pet and he’s used to being perceived as such but he really likes the fact that your relationship is more mutual than anything and it’s not one of you heavily relying on the other one you guys rely on each other and that that’s what makes you a good solid strong couple. as for your autism, I think he would be pretty good at handling it and always make sure to try and do some concentrating exercises with you if you ever lost ground of focus or things like that and you needed to focus. And he would very quickly learn about a lot of your habits and how to cope with them. He loves your music taste, and I think if you ever listened to any of it with him, it would just like make his day and then he would listen to it nonstop and you guys listen to each other. It’s so much that the gang will not let either of you take control of the radio or cassette. I think he really likes your baggy clothes that are just thrown off the thrift store and would buy matching things with you too if you were into that like if you got a pair of baggy jeans, I feel like he’d ask you where you got them and then try to get the same pair. I don’t know I could see you guys matching and being really cute. I ship it!!

[andro-dino]

Yooo if you're still doing the ask thingie maybe 7, 8 and 14 for Kira and Ren? 🙏

sorry for the kinda slow response on this one wueh 🙏

Kira- this is mostly like, stuff I enjoy doing with him and dna, but I love explorations of what post-canon would look like for him. Especially when people acknowledge like, how insanely fucked up his entire life has been up to that point, it’s really interesting playing with how he interacts with both the main gang and society at large, especially if you go the route of it being kinda rocky at first and it taking a while for both him and others to fully adjust. I also really enjoy giving him closer bonds with other dna members and just all the different ways their dynamics can be portrayed. As for things I hate, as with a lot of characters but Kira especially is victim to this for obvious reasons, I despise how oversexualized he is a lot of the time and how much people reduce his character down for the sake of that. There’s so much about him that’s super interesting and complex but people just end up being so weird about him and it makes me sad. One specific example that I can call to is that I discovered a while back that kite/kira is a ship that exists and tbh, I really enjoy it I think they have a lot of potential to be really interesting together, but like all of the posts I saw of them were just so weird and gross and that’s really upsetting to me.

Ren- I think just giving her more individual dynamics with others is really fun. She doesn’t really have a lot of one on one bonds with other characters in the actual show so I really enjoy when people explore the individual friendships and relationships she can have with others. For me, I find takanosuke and Shinobu the most fun to pair her with but honestly anyone you put her with is a fun time. I also like thinking about her and benkei having a closer father-daughter relationship they make me happy <3

Unfortunately for things I dislike, it’s like so much. No one does her right and I think that’s upsetting. Her personality is so fun and unique and I feel like no one really gives her the full grace of that. She’s silly and stupid and energetic but she’s also determined and tough and hardworking. She can be stubborn and reckless and narrow minded and she can also be reasonable and kind and sarcastic. I love her personality and her characterization so much but I think that most fanon portrayals of her focus too much on very narrow views of her character and don’t really give her the full depth that she has. Also, this next one is like, old fandom stuff and not really super present with her, but all of the ship content I’ve seen with her sucks ass and mischaracterizes her really badly. I think in general with a lot of older depictions of her, most of her actual character gets ignored entirely and people just go “GIRL” and just put whatever the hell they want to onto her and none of it works like ever.

Kira- Kira’s such a dress up doll character I think you could put him in like anything and it’d work. I don’t know much about the style, but from what I’ve seen, I think putting him in visual kei could be fun.

Ren- REN I ACTUALLY HAVE ONE FOR!! I love to think that she would enjoy scene fashion and I have for forever it works so well. I’ve actually doodled a scene-ish look for her before

[not-so-secret-account]

RWBY Discussion #2 — Ship Edition

those shower thoughts be hitting

now, i’ve come back here to talk about something i’ve been itching to for a while now, and have just gotten it all into words (bc tbh it’s all just been incoherent babbling inside this head of mine)

alright to whoever has watched RWBY at least to the end of volume 3, y’all will know exactly what i’m talking about.

for those who don’t, spoiler warning for volume 3.

now onto the topic of the day: Arkos.

Okay I cannot even begin how much I love this pairing, but not in the way I want them to end up together (bc frankly, that ship has been thanos snapped out if reali-💥💥💥). But I love this because of how incomplete and tragic this pairing really is when taking a deeper dive into it.

Let’s start with the gal herself, Pyrrha Nikos. Champion, and the pride of Mistral, known for her talent in combat and is basically a celebrity. People look up to her, the “Invincible Girl”, as she’s called. There are many, many people who would probably bend over backwards to be aquatinted with her, and she hates it.

Despite all the attention, all the fame, she is lonely. Even with the people clamoring to become buddy-buddy with her, it’s all for the sake of raising their own status or other advantages with being associated with the champion. Because of this, she has no real friends; Pyrrha is lonely, and stands alone on that pedestal people have put her on for a long time. So, she wants a fresh start, to go somewhere that won’t treat her as some sort of goddess whenever she steps into the public eye.

Cue Pyrrha arriving to the kingdom of Vale, where she goes to enroll at Beacon Academy. A place that, hopefully, won’t have as many people swarming around her (at the very least). Of course, she’s gotten some people trying to get into her good graces out of ulterior motives (sorry Weiss), but it hasn’t been a bad experience so far. And hey, she’s got a team now, and thankfully, with people who haven’t been bombarding her about her status.

And then, there’s Jaune. Jaune Arc — “short, sweet, rolls off the tongue (his words, not mine)”. Not a..particularly known student. In fact, he’s just a nobody in the Academy, and with next to zero knowledge about fighting or combat in general. No prior training, with only the desire to become a hero. So, it’s a wonder that he even made through initiation, much less become a team leader. And one of his teammates is none other than Pyrrha Nikos. Granted, he only survived because everyone else kicked ass and saved his, but okay — the gang’s all here, and so, the school year begins.

Circling back on the first part, Pyrrha has never had any real connections with others outside of family (presumably), so of course she’s had trouble finding friends, and let alone a deeper connection with anyone else. She can’t be genuine with anyone else because of that untouchable status of hers..until she met her team. And specifically, Jaune.

See, Jaune, when finding out of her status, didn’t..really think too much on it. Of course, she’s held to a degree of respect, but it wasn’t like she wasn’t a person, either. Jaune, unlike most people, treated her like an equal, a *friend.* And that was the first thing that had gotten her to form a good bond with him. And with the time that bond formed, vulnerabilities started to show from either side, with each confiding in one another of secrets (though that was mainly on Jaune’s part). And when taking into account that this was the first guy to have shown interest in her and not the status she carried, it wasn’t a surprise that she fell in love with him.

And here’s the fun part: I don’t believe this love to have been reciprocated.

While we have seen Jaune mourn her death more openly than anyone else in the series, it doesn’t mean he really loved her back romantically. Thinking back, Pyrrha had been the one person who’s gone out of her way to help him become a hero, the one thing he strived for. To him, she was a great mentor — an inspiration. And the person who’s pushed him in the right direction back at Beacon. Pyrrha was an amazing friend and person, who gave all her time and effort to train her own team leader, and for a while, Jaune believed all that had gone to waste into someone who didn’t deserve it. He didn’t think he deserved a friend like Pyrrha, and he sure as hell didn’t after her death; Jaune blamed himself for not being able to save Pyrrha in her time of need, compared to when she was present for his. And it wasn’t until the Fall of Beacon when he realized the degree of care she really had for him. And y’know what? He feels guilty. Guilty that he never knew of how deep her care went, and that he took her kindness for granted, because he could only take a fraction of it.

And that’s why I love Arkos. On one hand, it’s an unrequited love, and on the other, the lost of a friend who gave too much, and got little in return.

More RWBY-related rants coming soon to a page near you, stay tuned 👍

[what-yadoking-likes]

Sooooo since we clearly established that you’re a wolf/hox shipper, I wanted to know if you got any other (payday) shippings going on and if we might see some in “The Cell” any time in the future?

Also what’s your personal take on Wolf and Jacket having a “father-son”-like-relationship?

BAHAHA 'since we clearly established that you're a wolf/hox shipper' LOL is that a read?? /jk

Okay SO OTHER PAIRINGS YOU SAYYYY... o h b o i

Well, when I first started out in this fandom I was a fan of Sokol/Dallas (MasterGrinder). I've always been a fan of age-difference relationships and, well, the fact that they're both extremely handsome men doesn't hurt. Another thing that drew me to this pairing was how the dynamic would work in practice - Dallas being the crew chief, the one who has to keep shit together, and Sokol being younger and probably hornier and being more likely to throw a spanner in the works of whatever carefully-laid plan Dallas had. Oh, and let's not forget @neomineom's insane fanart of the two - that really, uhh, got me into it. I also have an in-progress-on-hiatus fic where they have a first date together and Sokol gets jacked off in a jacuzzi.

Nowadays though, I'm way more likely to imagine Dallas with Bain (MasterGuide or NaviMind). I have a fair few ideas floating around for them already and some in-progress-on-hiatus Tumblr ficlets that are mostly PWPs that somehow became something bigger (kinda like The Cell L M A O ) - not to mention the odd fic on AO3 with them as the main pairing.

I think... again, they're both handsome dudes. And I see them as having a lot in common - Dallas finding it harder to feel connected with the crew as he takes on this role as crew chief - Bain deliberately putting distance between him and the gang as a whole to ensure their safety. But... doesn't this all sound very lonely? So I like to imagine they'd stave off that gnawing loneliness by being together - in secret, mind, so that when Bain gets kidnapped it gets extra juicy and ANGSTY (or I just AU it and Bain doesn't die or get reincarnated).

I’ve... dropped some hints about MasterGuide in The Cell, but it hasn’t been anything super obvious or really worth tagging. In a perfect world I would love to write more stuff with them as the main focus... but I just don’t know if I have time between work, adulting, other creative pursuits, AND finishing one of the two novels I began like two/three years ago in the hopes of getting published. So... never say never I guess?

Now I figure if I keep going on like this for every pairing we’ll be here all day, so I’ll try to give the TL;DR version of the next few (but feel free to Ask me about them another time if you want to know more!).

Sokol/Jacket (Socket) - all that aggression! All that violence! Not typically an enemies-to-lovers fan but here we are.

Wolf/Dallas (MasterTech) - nyaaw crime daddies!

Dallas/Hoxton (MasterFugitive) - angsty potential re: imprisonment, and also handsome menses :3

Jacket/Vlad (UkrainianChicken) - a meme pairing I conceived of when trying to think of who would make the most chaotic pairing in the Payday universe.

Vlad/Locke (GolfGoat) - started as a meme pairing now kinda like it ngl LOL, even the contractors need love! Plus they contrast with one another really well and would be very fun.

I’ve probably missed some out here but oh well. ON TO YOUR 2ND QUESTION.

Wolf and Jacket as having a father/son relationship... well that makes the fics about them a bit raunchier ngl!

I think for me I find it hard to see Jacket as having a role of a leader in any way, shape or form. I feel that a father is a kind of leader or role model and I’m not sure if that’s Jacket’s vibe, I guess. I will say though that my perception of fathers is grim at best due to my own experiences, so there may be something I’m missing here. I’d be open to hearing other people’s thoughts about it, for sure.

I do, however, see the two as sharing a bond because they’re both perceived of as being the most unstable/unhinged in the Payday gang. A kind of ‘nobody understands us and that’s awesome’ vibe.

[forgedroyalseal]

My Reputation’s Never Been Worse

Chapter 13

(I love this chapter so much and I really hope you do too)

An hour later, Alyss found herself walking down the narrow, shady path towards the lake alone. They had discussed what they should do over breakfast, and it was decided that only one of them should check on Will. They didn’t want him to constantly feel like he was being ganged up on. Cassandra had instantly volunteered, but Horace suggested that Alyss should go. She had seen him the least out of all of them, and Horace thought it would be good for them to talk one on one.

She clutched the mug of still steaming coffee in her hands and turned around the last bend before stepping into the clearing that slopped into the lake. Nyah sat under a tree, light flickering through the leafs, casting shadows on her face. Alyss approached quietly, unsure if her presence would be welcomed or not.

“Join me.” Nyah called to her without turning around. Her words were soft and inviting. Alyss sat besides her, setting the mug down carefully next to her. Will was in the water, steadily swimming back and forth across the lake. He moved as powerfully and as surely as a ship, cutting through the water as if it was what he was born to do. The girls watched him in silence for a while before Alyss broke it.

“I don’t remember him ever really swimming when we were growing up.” Alyss sighed. This was just one more thing that she didn’t know about Will.

“When we met, Will was in constant agony. His hip wound was still pretty new, and it was a complete mess. Every time he had to sit was a struggle, and forget about standing back up. An old sailor that was working on the same ship suggested Will try swimming to build up his strength and to give himself some time off of the injury. It really helped with the pain, but I think it help him mentally even more. The water has a calming effect on his mind, and it give him something physical to focus when he gets overwhelmed.”

“So you two didn’t met an Eisel?”

“No, we knew each other for a couple years before we ended up in Eisel. I was on the ship Will found work on.”

“I didn’t know that women worked on ships. What did you do?”

Nyah closed her eyes from a moment. When she opened them, Alyss such raw pain and regret that she wished she could take the question back.

“Women typically are kept off ships, old superstitions died hard, you know? But on this ship, well, I guess they felt I was worth the risk. My father sold me to captain the year before Will joined the crew.”

“You don’t have to-“ Alyss tried to say but Nyah just continued speaking.

“The captain would offer me as a reward, or as bait. Or he’d just use me himself. Will was the first man who had shown me kindness in years. He never once-“ She shook her head. “Even when offered, Will refused to do what the other men would. Even when it made the other men suspicious, he never touched me. He became my saving grace on that ship. I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for him.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Alyss said, heart tight with sympathy for the woman next to her.

Nyah shrugged, “It was awful. But it could have been worse. There are so many women that it was much worse for. So many women who never found their Will.” Her eyes had remain locked on Will the entire time she had been telling her story and understanding dawned on Alyss.

“You love him, don’t you?”

Blushing, Nyah turned to Alyss. “I think everyone who meets Will falls at least a little bit in love with him. But yeah, I do. He doesn’t feel the same way though, so I’ve learned to be satisfied with just having him as a friend.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that. I mean, you seem to be the only person he let’s himself relax around. The only person he’s himself with.”

“We’ve been bonded by pain and fear. We care deeply for each other, but it’s nothing more. He’s madly in love with someone else. I don’t think he’ll ever be capable of falling for anyone else for as long as he lives.”

And without having to ask, Alyss knows. She sees it in the heavy look Nyah levels her with. It’s the same look that Horace gave her this morning. The same look everyone has given her every time Will was mentioned over the past five years.

It was her. Will loved her, had for a while it would seem. He loved her, and yet he still left. Will loved her, and yet he had barely spoken to her since he had returned. He loved her, and yet he had written to George while he was on the run. He loved her, and yet he never once said a word.

Will loved her.

And yet, that didn’t seem like it would be enough to keep him here.

“You finally figured it out, huh?” Nyah nudged her.

“He never said.”

Before Nyah could reply, Will was walking up to them, water dripping off of him. Drops clung to the ends of his hair, catching the sunlight and causing him to look as though he was crowned with diamonds. In this light, with the blood and grime washed away, he looked nearly ethereal. Alyss’ breath caught in her throat. She had known Will all her life, and sure, as a teenage girl who started feeling things for the first time, she had seen Will as cute. And after everything in Norgate, handsome even. But looking at this older, rough edged version of Will standing in front of her, and knowing his feelings towards her, she felt as though she was seeing him for the first time. Seeing him as a man. Not the teenage boy she knew. It hit her like a tidal wave.

Oh.

It was Will. It had always been Will. Somewhere deep inside her heart, she had always felt it, she just hadn’t known it. She had loved him long before she even knew what love was, or what it could be. The past five years with out him had been agony. She felt as if a part of her had died and rotted inside of her chest. And seeing him again, so different, so hurt, she was torn between being grateful for his return and terrified of what it meant for their future. Because she couldn’t lose him again, she couldn’t watch him leave. Not now that she could name the feelings that tied them together.

“Alyss?” His voice broke through her internal crisis. She fought down a blush when she realized she had just been silently staring up at him.

“This is for you.” The words rush out as she pushes the mug of coffee towards him. “It’s probably cooled down a bit, but that’s never stopped you before.”

“Oh, um, thank you. But I don’t drink coffee anymore.” Will shot Nyah a look that she obviously ignored.

“You’re joking right? You lived off of this stuff.”

“Yeah I just… Lost my taste for it I guess.”

Nyah rolled her eyes. “Will, you’ve known Alyss all your life, can you please just be honest with her. Can you be vulnerable with her for two seconds?” She stood and shoved Will down by his shoulders so he was sitting besides Alyss. “Tell her the deal with coffee at least. I’m going to see where Miles has wondered off to. We’ll meet you two back at the Castle.” She picked the mug out of Alyss’ hands and left them before Will could argue.

“You don’t have to tell me anything you aren’t comfortable with.” Alyss says gently.

Will sighed, “No, Nyah’s right. I should tell you. I mean, it’s you. If there’s one person I should be able to be honest with it’s you.” He glanced down at himself. “I didn’t expect to have this conversation half naked and soaking wet, but…” They both laugh and Alyss leans behind him to grab his discarded shirt then tosses it at his face.

“I think I’ve seen enough of your body today.” She says the words before she can stop them and feels her face burn right red the moment they come out. Will just grins and tugs the shirt on. It gets stuck over his head for a minute and when he finally wrestles it on, his wet hair is wild and starting to curl at the ends. She looks at him and the start to laugh all over again, falling into each others sides.

“So, coffee?” Alyss asks once they compose themselves. She watches Will’s face fall and half regrets bring it up, but the other half is desperate for insight into the past five years.

“Right.” Will looked up the the branches overhead as if trying to find the words spelled out among the leafs. “I was heading to the coast when Ranger Conway caught me in Greenfield. He put an arrow through my hip.” Will gestured the where the knot of scar tissue sat underneath his damp trousers. “He bound me and dragged me back to his cabin. I’m honestly not sure what his plan was, if he was even planning on bringing me to Castle Araluen or if he was just going to kill me himself. Either way, he wanted to have his fun with me first. He wanted to watch me suffer.”

“He kept me tied up for three days. I’m still not sure how I didn’t bleed out on the floor of the cabin, or how my wound didn’t become infected past the point of no return. For the most part, he left me alone during the day. But at night,” Will forced back a shutter, “Conway was a drunk, and a cruel one at that. One night, he was making coffee. I made a stupid comment, I don’t even remember what it was anymore, and it pissed him off. He took the kettle of coffee off the fire and doused me in it.” Will pulled the collar of his shirt down and pointed at the discolored scaring on his chest. “I’ll never be able to forget the smell, it’s seared into my brain. Coffee mixed with burning flesh. I can’t even get a whiff of coffee anymore without getting nauseous. Later that night after he had passed out, I dislocated my thumbs to slip out of the rope binds and ran like hell until I reach the sea.”

Alyss stared at him with wide, watery eyes. “I-I don’t- Will.” So much emotion spilled into his name that it came out as a sob. Will turned her into him so that she was half in his lap and wrapped his arms tightly around her.

“I’m ok Alyss. It was years ago. I’m ok.” He whispered.

“No, it’s not ok! Nothing about this is ok! You never should have gone through that, any of it.”

“But I did, and I came out on the other side.”

Alyss pulled back from him just enough to look him in the eye. “Did you? Because sometimes I look at you, and feel as though I’m looking at a stranger. But then other times, I still see the boy I knew. It’s as though you’ve been split in two Will, and I’m never sure who I’m seeing.“

Will sighed deeply, clearly trying to control his emotions before responding. Alyss knew that she was pushing more than she should. Knew that it wasn’t fair to have this conversation now, after he had finally opened up to her about what he had had gone through. But after learning about his feelings from Nyah, and the sudden realization of her own, she needed to get through to him, needed him to understand how worried she was.

“I am trying Alyss. I don’t know how to do this anymore. How to be who you all want me to be. I can’t just go back to the boy you all remember.”

“You don’t need to Will. None of us are expecting you to be unchanged by the last five years. But there are times where I see glimmers of yourself that you force down. That you cover over with anger and resentment. You don’t need to be all or nothing Will. You can just be you. All any of us want, is you.” She placed her hand on his cheek, thumb gliding over a scar by the corner of his mouth. “All I want, is you.”

His own hand slides over hers and he presses a kiss into her palm. “I’ll keep trying. I promise.”

“That’s all I ask.” Her voice was a whisper, not daring to speak any louder in fear that it would break whatever fragile connection that held them together in this moment of vulnerability.

“There is so much I should tell you.” His words were heavy with guilt and fear.

“And you will, when you’re ready.”

She felt him lean forward. Watched his eyes flicker down to her mouth. Felt him take a deep breath.

“Will! There you are, Crowley- Oh. Oh!” Gilan’s voice shattered the intimate moment like a rock going through glass.

Will pulled back from her and Alyss felt a surge of murderous rage towards Gilan.

“Hope I’m not interrupting. I can come back.” He says grinning as he sits down next to them, clearly have zero intentions of leaving them alone.

“What do you want Gil?” Will asked exasperatedly. Alyss slid off of Will’s lap as casually as she could, but felt Gilan’s shining eyes watching her with amusement.

“Crowley was looking for you. But I am more than happy to cover for you if you need to uh, finish whatever’s going on here.”

Will shot him a hard look, which if directed at anyone else would have made them back off immediately. But it was Gilan, who ignored Will’s gaze and continued smiling wolfishly at the pair.

“We were just talking.”

“Oh, is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Gilan teased.

“What does Crowley want?” Will asked, trying to move along.

“I don’t know.” Gilan shrugged. “He’s in his office waiting for you.”

“I should go. It might be about Eisel.” Will stood and stretched. He reached down and offered his hand to Alyss, who took it and pulled herself up. “Do you mind letting Miles and Nyah know where I am?” He asked her.

“Of course.”

Will smiled then turned to Gilan, “And not another word out of you.” Gilan put his hands up in surrender, grin still plastered on his face.

The three of them walked back to the Castle together and once Will broke off towards Crowley’s office, Gilan pulled Alyss aside to an empty sitting room.

“I don’t what you said, or did, but whatever it was, he seems different. Lighter.”

“I just- listened. Told him we didn’t need him to be anyone but himself. I’m not sure how much it will effect him, but I’m not giving up on him.”

“None of us are.” Gilan’s eyes gleamed and the sincerity of the moment evaporated. “Now, care to share what exactly I interrupted?”

“Nope, you’ll just have to use your imagination.” She pushed past him and he called out after her.

“Oh, believe me, I will!”

[mermaidsirennikita]

Have you seen Glass Onion? What did you think?

I’m glad I saw it in the theater with an audience, and I thought it was a great follow up to Knives Out. Janelle Monae was fantastic. (I love how it’s been a Latina lead, followed by a Black woman lead. I hope that trend continues in all the subsequent movies.) I thought it was impressive that it didn’t feel like a retread of Knives Out at all, and enjoyed how it was a lot twistier.

However, while Monae and Craig had great rapport as a duo, I don’t think GO had the warmth and heart of KO. Ana and Christopher Plummer’s dynamic really made that movie imo. I also felt like sometimes the humor and character archetypes in GO were too…online? The first one was topical, but felt less like a time capsule than GO.

I think the third movie has to be set at a chalet in the Alps for sure.

I did see it! Personally, I loved it. I'm not sure if I loved it as much as Knives Out, but if not it's a very close second. I plan on watching them back to back once GO is out on streaming and discuss it further with my panel of experts, so.

I feel like I may have had the opposite reaction to Daniel Craig and Janelle together versus Ana and Daniel. Now, this could also be influenced by how annoying and unbearable I find Ana these days (though she was very good in KO, and that's easily her best movie, and she has a natural chemistry with Daniel). Plus, I feel like a lot of people were kind of fighting in the trenches when KO came out about whether or not we were supposed to read a romantic subtext into Marta and Benoit's relationship--I was very much about it being a paternal thing, and of course I shipped Marta and Ransom (and still do, lol). Now that we know Benoit is queer (I don't wanna say gay because I don't know for sure) and partnered up, I don't think there's that air of "what is this" with viewers re: Daniel and Janelle, even though they also have great chemistry.

For me, I think that Rian Johnson has made deliberate choices to ally Benoit Blanc (a queer man, though of course cis and white) with people who are typically marginalized--an first generation immigrant woman who is seen as "the help", a black woman whose brilliance was stolen by a subpar white man. Because ultimately, while the Benoit Blanc mysteries are brilliant mysteries and whodunnits, they're also highly political. And so neither movie feels like a time capsule to me, so much as a reflection on what he as a creator sees as unjust. In both movies, you basically have Benoit, the protagonist, and a bunch of privileged shitheads (though in the original movie we also have Harlan as a decent person, who nonetheless is partially responsible for everyone else being such a shithead). Both movies are focused on issues that I think are pretty relevant. KO has a lot to say about the working class versus the ruling class, xenophobia and anti-immigrant bias, the way that seemingly liberal and nice people will gang up against "outsiders" as soon as they see their generational wealth threatened. Whereas GO was more about the myth of the genius white guy tech mogul (even Benoit, who can cut through lies, is sold on it for a minute) and the way people from a variety of different industries prop it up because it benefits them directly.

I don't know, I think that we as a society are so online that it's difficult for a movie with social commentary threaded in to avoid that. Especially a movie *series* which ultimately, imo, will always be about politics--but has to do a little variation of a different political issue each time.

Going back to Janelle and Daniel, I feel like... To me, there was a really emotionally honest streak to the bond in this movie because Benoit and Janelle's character knew the score from the beginning, if that makes sense. Due to the plot being so different, and the unfurling of the mystery being so different, than it was in KO.

But both were great, and I agree that at this point he needs to do something like a chalet, or perhaps a Tuscan villa--we need these big sets for these movies, these like, iconic visuals. I want 50 billion more Benoit Blanc movies, I think the entire concept of this series is such a career highlight for both Rian and Daniel. It's great to see a creator and a performer align so well together, and then get (most of) the rest of the cast on board. I will say that with both movies were were like... a couple people I think could've been replaced. I remember with KO I had no idea what Katherine Langford was doing with the likes of Toni Colette and Michael Shannon. With this one, I could've done without Madelyn Cline (that role was so clearly supposed to be Sydney Sweeney I could've screamed) and Dave Bautista (that was a Momoa role if I've ever seen one).

[candycane-hockeymom]

Dear Author of the Hockey Holidays 2022 fic exhange

Thank you for participating and yay for writing for me! I’ve always been super excited about every gift fic I have received, and I’m looking forward to the privilege of receiving the fic that you want to write.

That said, some guidelines on my preferences as a reader and some reasons why I chose the pairings in my request below.

Likes: good writing. Characters with dubious morals but maybe sort of a good heart. I love good characterization and character dynamics, be it romance, porn or a gen fic studying personal development of an athlete in his sports career or group dynamics of a sports team.

As themes/tropes I like friends to lovers, fuckbuddies to lovers, and any kind of scheming, pwp, Locker room gang bangs, Winner’s room. I love equal partners, but I also find status imbalances & age and size differences HOT.

Dislikes: a/b/o, mpreg, tentacles, body horror, gore, rule 63, suicide/self harm. Not very much into BDSM AU either but I do like kinky elements in smut. I don’t want to see any mentions of Alexander Ovechkin. No slander of irl SO's or writing them as villains, but I’m OK with them existing in the story, even if it involves cheating. I'm not a fan of hockey fights.

About AU:s: I’m more into mundane, realistic AU:s than fantasy / magical / etc but have read some great fics with magical realism so if supernatural elements make you tick as a writer and make this the fic you want to write, I’ll be looking forward to the result.

A plot heavy thriller or action story would also be exciting to read, so if you have some ideas for a crime AU fic in a film noir atmosphere, go ahead! Soldiers, secret agents, spies, cops, mobsters, detectives...

In general, Sebastian Aho is my favorite player and the favorite character to read about. I’d love to see the confident, at times even cocky, sassy, pushy and dominant, leader that the 25-year old has grown into, in fic form. If you want to, you can add in or refer to other Sepe pairings if that fits your fic idea: I like polyamory, open relationships and slutty characters sleeping around. The only pairing I’m not into  is Sepe/Seth Jarvis (yes there’s some great fic for them but Jarvy doesn’t attract me at all and I don’t ship them)

I’m very attracted to Brent Burns at the moment; the way he moves and carries his big body looks so effortlessly strong, and his personality seems great.

Prompts for requested pairings:

Sebastian Aho/Teuvo Teravainen: my hockey otp. I like them both as friends and as lovers; new teammates to ride-and-die friends to lovers embodies it all. I love their bond. I love love, friendship and mutual appreciation. They're besties! They're boyfriends! They’re the Finnish Connection! They're husband and his little housewife who have grown into a bosslady/laid back skill dude power couple!

Brad Lambert/Blake Wheeler:  Wheeler lost his C, Lambert wasn't drafted higher than 30th after rumours of attitude and ego problems in Finland. Both may hold a grudge for life itself and be willing to take it out on someone who just happens to be there. Dubious consent? Problematic abuse of power dynamics? Not a problem. But, if you prefer to write a healthy, healing gen fic, it's just as welcome as unhealthy darkfic.

Sebastian Aho/Brent Burns. Two hot bodies. Two star players. Age and size difference. Brent’s tattooed thighs. 

Sebastian Aho (b. 1997)/Justin Williams Sebastian loves his role model ok?

Sebastian Aho (b. 1997)/Rod Brind'Amour/Justin Williams: Sebastian loves his role models.

Sebastian Aho (b. 1997)/Rod Brind'Amour: Do I have to repeat myself?

Brent Burns/Carolina Hurricanes ensemble: Gen fic about getting settled in a new team (sports or AU) or a welcome bang of some sort, your choice. Or getting settled with the team and having a budding romance with one of the players, that’s fine too! Or even a love triangle, player 1 is interested in Burnzie but he has hots for player 2...

All of this is just to give you ideas, not to limit your creativity! Have fun writing and take care of yourself, Happy Hockey Holidays!

This is my hidden side Tumblr. The actual ones are @caixxa (main) and @badhockeymom (hockey).

If you have more questions, anon ask on any of these blogs works.

[alonggoodbye]

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT MEME repost. do not reblog.

FULL NAME:  Halia Vasilyevna Markova (aliases: Halia Marker or Marshall) GENDER & SEXUALITY: Cis female || Demi-romantic demisexual ETHNICITY & SPECIES: Russian-Filipino American, Siberian decent. || Immortal BIRTHPLACE & BIRTHDATE: Brooklyn, New York, September 21, 1901

GUILTY PLEASURES: Walking around her lodgings in her undergarments while drinking whisky and smoking giant cigars.

PHOBIAS: Drowning, open water, abandonment

WHAT THEY WOULD BE INFAMOUS FOR: If it weren’t for history’s nack for focusing almost exclusively on men and Leon Reid's connections, Halia would be in the books for crimes of arson, murder, and bootlegging. If her past and her immortality were not something to be covered up, she would have worked her way up in the music business and had been noted among other colored singers through the jazz age.

WHAT HAVE THEY/WOULD THEY HAVE GOTTEN ARRESTED FOR: If it hadn’t been for her gang-mates, the neighborhood boys through her youth cast out by racist American views, our girl would be arrested for: several accounts of arson, breaking and entering, theft,  murder accomplished through organized crime, the production, trafficking and selling of illicit goods (alcohol).

CHARACTER YOU SHIP THEM WITH: Halia was once affianced to a young man named Henry O'Ryan, but a few months after he came home from the war their relationship ended. She has many friendships but I haven’t really had a chance to have her break past friendship barriers. She loses confidence in herself when faced with romantic intent, so haha.

CHARACTER MOST LIKELY TO MURDER THEM: Florian in the WWII thread probably- he’s got the the best chance.

FAVOURITE BOOK GENRE: Detective, mystery fiction

LEAST FAVOURITE BOOK CLICHÉ: “And the lived happily ever after…”, lazy writing in her opinion. 

TALENTS OR POWERS: Halia can proudly flaunt her singing voice, but is much more shy about her passions for painting, or baking. The latter two talents are so time consuming that she can never find a chance to indulge or practice. She also has a talent for playing the violin, but because of old memories of her mother and father, she only plays for herself || When it comes to powers Halia has the ability to manipulate heat, though she cannot make fire out of nothing. She is immune to any form of heat and can heal when her wounds are exposed to flames. Unbeknownst to her, however, death through drowning would make her demise permanent. 

WHY SOMEONE MIGHT LOVE THEM: Her sense of humor and loyalty make her kinda cute. She’s very patient and is the type of person to drag you back home to be tucked in bed, or sit by the toilet with you if you got drunk out of your wits. She isn't the most confident flirt, so if she starts to flirt and it is reciprocated she will get very flustered. 

WHY SOMEONE MIGHT HATE THEM: She is a very good liar and she lives a life held up by many webs of lies. Halia does not take joy out of it, but unless you already know about her age, powers, or past don’t expect the truth until you’ve earned it.

HOW THEY CHANGE: After living through war after war and losing loved ones repeatedly Halia becomes better at letting go and living out of other people's shadow. After Leon Reid's death in 1929, after the stock market crash, she learns not to believe in the sunken cost fallacy (i.e. just because someone has been in your life forever, doesn't mean you should continue with toxic relationships of any sort). She eventually learns how to make friends genuinely without trauma bonding, or becoming co-dependent.

WHY YOU LOVE THEM: She’s honestly a badass grandma stuck in the body of a 20-something year old. She’d be the ultimate hipster lol

[unfriedough]

Greetings fellow Zuko enthusiast. You say your ✨desperate✨ eh? Well, I’ll give you three ideas and you can just choose which one/ones you want to write (if you yk, feel like writing them at all 😳)

1. Hcs where Zuko joins the gang and falls in love with the kind and caring earthbender? Ik they already have Toph but idk maybe this earthbender could specialize in like herbology or plants. Idk, it’s whatever you wanna do.

2. A oneshot with Lee (Zuko but in ~different font~ lol 😂) where him and his uncle have competition with the coffee shop across from them. So Zuko *ahem* pardon me, Lee, goes over there to see what it’s all about and ends up like meeting the manager of the place and low-key hating them at first. But then, they like….slowly grow on each other from seeing each other around and running into each other. Eventually they start dating and well….you can decide how it goes from there.

3. Hcs for Zuko with a librarian s/o? Maybe they manage the palace library and where like just hired or smth?

Just some of my random useless thoughts. Hope your morning/evening is going well, take care of yourself! 💞

‘Flower Field’- Zuko x fem!reader

Masterlist <3

An: GOOD DAY FRIENDS. First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REQUEST YOU MADE MY DAY <3

Imma do them all I think but I’m starting with the first one for now :)

Summary:

See request number 1.

Warnings: None.

When Zuko joined the Gaang™ you were practically the first person to be nice to him.

It was in your nature what can I say

But like? He didn’t really get it?

Because the only other earthbender he met was Toph, so he kinda expected the rest to be the same-

So like, not only were you kind and caring, but also, a herbalist.

So technically a healer.

Very confusing concept for Zuko

But eventually he warms up to you too.

When Azula attacked y’all at the temple, Katara didn’t wanna heal his small burns and whatnot.

So you did.

In your tent.

Safe to say he was dying.

That’s when he realised he was crushing on you

And his reaction was just to get super flustered-

Anyways, you healed him using plants obv

“Uhh thanks.” he fiddled with his hands

“Oh don’t worry about it, cutey.”

AHHHHH

Words came out of your mouth before you could comprehend it.

Trying to play it cool though

Zuko is literally dying.

You give him instructions and whatever about what he needs to do to heal fully, then he leaves your tent.

He gets jealous when you heal Sokka or literally any other guy that could be a love interest.

Ahem Haru Ahem

ANYWAYS-

Like you would be healing Sokka after sparring and he’d be in the distance like: >:(

Sokka, Toph, and Katara catch on.

Aang does not.

Sokka ships it 100%, Toph thinks it’s funny, and Katara is not fond of the idea.

“I HAVE A PLAN, LET'S MAKE THEM BOND OVER HEALING!” sokka says

“Zuko isn’t a healer,”

“I know,”

“Are you saying we should hurt Zuko!” Katara yells

“It would be my pleasure!”

“TOPH! NO!”

She spars with Zuko and defeats him

He’s hurt

Sokka’s like “oh nooo! I’ll call Yn!”

He brings you over and you inspect the wound.

“Hm, I dunno, maybe Katara would do a better job on this one”

“KATARA’S BUSY!”

“Doing what?”

“Training!”

You eyed Sokka, knowing he was lying. What on Earth could he be up to?

“I’m sure she can pause training to help Zuko,”

Zuko is just behind you, completely flustered and dead inside.

“Nope she can't,” Sokka added.

“Okay” you sighed, not having the energy to argue.

Plus you get to spend more time with Zuko so 🤷‍♀️

You brought Zuko to your tent, and began collecting your things.

“This is going to hurt a bit” you smiled, as you gave him your hand.

Could you have given him something else? Probably. Did you want to hold his hand? Yes.

He took your hand, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

When you began healing him, he squeezed your hand really tightly

:)

So cute.

After you're done, you wrap it up.

“All done!”

Ok time skip-

So he was definitely teased a lot by Sokka. Like he caught on to the fact that Sokka caught on.

Even angstier than usual :(

You notice.

It seems like he’s avoiding you like the plague,

You are sad, bc your in love with this grumpy idiot

So one day, you invite him to get plants with you (for healing because you ran out)

He doesn't want to.

“Please, you’ve been avoiding me and I miss hanging out with you.”

He feels SO BAD

“Okay”

Yay

So y’all are picking flowers and whatnot

And you take one of the prettiest flowers there, and put it behind his ear.

Then you laugh at him because he’s blushing, but you’re covering your mouth to try not to laugh.

But your laughing makes him blush even harder.

After a while, you guys decide to sit down and chill for a bit.

“I’m sorry I ignored you,”

“It’s okay, but did I do something wrong?”

“No no you didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Oh. Then, why’d you ignore me?”

He stares for a bit, before sitting facing you.

You are so confused

He sighs

(Think of it as the gif in the start. like that's how he looks)

“It’s because I like you. I like like you. Like more than I would like a friend. I like you like a-”

You cut him off by crashing your lips into his

It takes him a second to understand but he gets it

He kisses you back with so much passion.

Then when you separate, you say:

“I like like you too,”

He’s so happy.

When you guys go back to camp, Sokka notices Zuko not avoiding you anymore.

You walk Zuko to his room, and give him a goodnight kiss.

“Goodnight!”

Just as you're about to walk away, Zuko grabs your wrist lightly.

“Can you actually stay?” he says avoiding your gaze.

Ofc how could anyone say no-

You guys cuddle all night.

Katara comes to wake y’all up in the morning.

“Oh my god, Sokka was right.”

An: I really hope I did a good job with this lol. Again, Thank you so much for the request. As always, hope you enjoyed reading, SEE YA! <3

[the-scooby-gang]

Hi. I love polyamorous Scooby Gang (it is the superior ship imo) but I feel really weird because I like Shelma as a ship (obviously within the bigger ship) but I feel kind of alone. I didn't really watch Mystery Incorporated so I feel like there is this anger that I don't know. Like I literally just discovered all this hate recently and I just feel weird, like I support something that might be wrong. Just wanted to ask you because not every person ships the gang as poly.

Hi Anon, here are my thoughts that i will share with you.

The Shelma hate, i believe, is mostly due to their portrait in SDMI where, for some reason, they decided to write Velma being THE ABSOLUTE WORSE to Shaggy doing things like, quoting directly from @frick-it-all-to-hecc​ og “Canon Lesbian Velma is good. Canon Lesbian Velma abusing her male partner is Bad” post (i will talk more about it later):

Belittling shaggy

Physically harming him

Isolating him from his best friend (in this case Scooby-Doo who has all the same importance and weight as human characters in the show)

Forcing him to be uncomfortable to fit her needs

Using her anger to manipulate him into doing what she wanted

Later they tried to retcon it being saying "it was supposed to feel wrong because Velma is a closeted lesbian" after the series ended but that shit doesn't fly for a number of reasons, one of them being that kind of narrative feeds into the predatory/evil gays trope (i already have a reblog of @frick-it-all-to-hecc​ post where i add to the discussion if you want to see it HERE)

Before Mystery Incorporated shat the bed, the Shelma shippers had good content to make their base.

In “Scooby Doo, Where are You?” Shaggy is the one that has Velma’s spare glasses with him. Velma knows when he is sick and has his medicine in her pockets. 

In “Shaggy and Scooby Doo, Get a Clue” after spending a long period of time away from the gang, when they are reunited, Shaggy asks her to repeat “Jinkies” because he misses her saying it.

In the second live action movie “Scooby Doo 2, Monsters Unleashed” they have a beautiful heart to heart about how Velma views Shaggy and Scooby not as the screw ups they believe themselves to be but as free people that are not afraid of being who they truly are.

In “Be Cool Scooby Doo” they engage in each others interests (Shaggy engaging with a book about the history of the pretzel while Velma eats said pretzel)

The are other moments and interactions through out the 50 years that Scooby doo has been on the air (I recommend watching all of it to really get a grasp on the dynamics and free yourself from the pop culture understanding of things like, fun fact, on “Scooby Doo, Where are you?” the ones that were kidnapped the most where Shaggy and Scooby, not Daphne.)

The only thing stoping you from shipping Shelma are the following:

You don’t vibe with it.

You only watched SDMI and nothing else and assume you have a perfect grasp on 50 years on the franchise and the inner dynamics... somehow

and that’s it.

For me, with my poly gang, the dynamics grown and change the more i work with them but Shaggy and Velma are working with a mutual supporting relationship built over years together (some of that is build upon the canon, others are my own additions).

Sharing interests (Velma is deeply intrigued with magic and its properties and Shaggy, as a young wizard, loves sharing his researches with her), bonding over their experiences as older siblings, gardening together, doing sports together (Velma lifts weights aka Shaggy + some heavy books because the boy weights the same as a feather for her, while Shaggy does gymnastics over Velma’s strong shoulders Maybe i should draw this someday) and many little other things that are just theirs and many little other things that are theirs and Daphne’s and Fred’s.

That’s the thing I love the most about poly gang. 

It’s a merry-go-round of love that spins and spins around its own axis, never faltering. Sometimes the spinning changes, going either way too fast or way too slow or sometimes it goes backwards or stops abruptly, sometimes it spins in a comfortable familiar rhythm and stays like that for a long time with only the songs changing to show that indeed time is passing around them. 

And if one of them falls from their horse, knocked out by the sudden speed, the unexpected stops or just by sitting kinda weird on the saddle, they have the certainty that 3 other pairs of hands are going to be there to help them get on their mount again.

[assignmentimprobable]

benthan, icemav, goosemav, ethan/brandt and ethan/luther for the ship bingo!

What a fabulous spread of ships! Thank you! <3 [cracks knuckles ominously]

In being consistent about my blog name, we'll start with the Mission Impossible gang.

[Mission: Impossible]

Benthan:

They are SUCH good eggs okay. I was a little skeptical at first (I hadn’t gotten access to 3 yet but I’d seen 4). But then I was fucking blown out of the water by dapper Benji and Ethan in Rogue Nation. The “Miss me?” And “Nice Tux”, followed up by Benji’s impassioned declaration that this is the job/it’s risks and that he is STAYING by Ethan’s side made it all click. The forfeiture of millions of dollars in blood money for his safety was the very sweet cherry on top of this whole thing. Benji is the true love interest of that whole thing by trope convention, I can’t argue otherwise.

They’re so good for each other in terms of understanding the risks and the life of a spy, but good goddd their relationship really is “Go to bed!” “… And what are YOU doing awake?” “Shit.” I love it to bits. Real “you should let me love you, let me be the one to give you everything you want and need” type shit.

Luther/Ethan: TRULY UNDERRATED!!! It has less of the overt romantic framing than Benthan in Rogue Nation, but I honestly think the freedom of emotional transparency and like. The implicit trust of having someone know you from the jump makes for a really sweet duo. Luther's softness and knowing questions, Ethan's snark and full belief in Luther. They each get a side of each other that their teammates aren't privvy to because that's just how history between two folks who go way back works.

I like 'em either way- romantic or platonic (they give me a very couch cuddler vibe. Just knocked out and squeezed onto the sofa). Just no matter what you do, acknowledge that they're best friends who've been to hell and back with each other for 26 years god darnit. The entire premise of Fallout was predicated on that bond!

Brandt/Ethan: Definitely not my cup of tea, but I respect it! I just think that they're the same kind of person in the ways that aren't compatible. Brandt is the bureaucracy bus and Ethan gets disavowed like every week. Two very different kind of managers in one room. There's a divorced vibe there, but in the 'we have never dated but the undercurrent of fond hostility remains between us at all times' way. Someone on here, I think it was @rochc93 that headcanon Ethan's hooked up with everybody on the team except Brandt and I AGREE. It’s just so much more fun that way for me.

[Top Gun]

IceMav: See, I'm one off them uncultured folks who didn't watch Top Gun until I was an adult, so i had largely escaped the formative influence of pilot competition and locker room intimacy. But when I saw it? Man. Man, no pop culture reference could compare. Like whatever they had was REAL, it was real to me! Nobody was joking when they said that shit was gay. I didn’t think they were but I didn’t expect Ice to try and eat the guy alive with his eyes. I adore their relationship. As like, one part the testosterone in the air, and another part the fundamental differences in accomplishing the same goal and resolving the tension through understanding and acceptance of those differences. They fill in each other’s blanks… They play half naked volleyball. The rituals are intricate.

GooseMav: BEST FRIENDS BABEYYYY!!! Their friendship just jets the movie into this stratosphere for me, you cannot have Top Gun without Goose and Mav. I get this pit in my stomach every time I come up on his death scene because they were having so much fun! They’re the only family they have left!! Carole and Goose’s marriage and dynamic is just so wholesome to me that I see ‘em as the only one for each other. I love the intimacy of choosing your own family among friends for Goose and Maverick, it drives the point home so well. You don’t gotta love somebody romantically to grieve them as your lifeline to the world. I’m totally supportive of folks who ship it though, 80s masculine bonding is sacred.

[sylvain-ia]

do you have any headcanons on the hawks’ “type” (romance-wise)? we get snippets for finn and radarr, but not much for the rest of the gang and i always find it interesting to wonder since we don’t see anything really in the show! (though imo the fact that there arent strong romantic undertones in the show really brings out how great the story is)

Hmmm ships in general is a weird one for me - mostly because there are very very few times that I actually like the ‘canonical’ ship in stories; they can feel forced sometimes which really distracts from actual character development and pushes me to enjoy side characters way more (again just my idle opinion, I’m no pro storyteller). So I found it really nice that they weren’t overtly pushing any one particular ship :)) and I agree! the story never really needed strong romantic undertones; the characters had lots of fun getting into silly situations and whilst becoming the leading force in an actual war.

As for their types?? Ok I’ll give it a shot:

Aerrow - someone who can be as reckless as he is but they recognise that trait in each other and bond over worrying about the other’s safety. They’d sometimes have conflicting ideals but would eventually see the others perspective.

Finn - on a surface level he’s attracted to aesthetic beauty but is surprised to find deeper connections with someone who is very introverted and is virtually the opposite of his confident personality.

Junko - someone who is into the same hobbies; especially the same books and they bond over a particular series that they both adore. They’d go out of their way to find special editions of their favourite books as gifts even if it got them into some trouble.

Piper - someone who is as passionate as she is about gaining knowledge in any given field. They often bury themselves so deeply into their research that they forget to eat; then they’d distract each other with surprise dinner dates.

Stork - someone who doesn’t always pick up on his sarcastic dry wit but it still makes them laugh because he is unashamedly honest about how he feels and it helps bring down his walls. (But we all know there is only one true love, and “this pilot goes down with his ship”)

Radarr - ..poultry, I suppose?