#I will deal!!!! I will get out of the funk eventually

[touyatodorokigf]

I miss drawing so bad

[danicamaximoff]

Pretend To Be Nice | Chapter Four

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Chapter Four: 70's Funk?

Summary: A few months after forming their band "The Pussycats", Hazel and her friends PJ and Josie get noticed by a record label, and are quickly skyrocketed into fame. It's a dream come true for them, and all three of their lives are flipped upside down. Their quick arrival on the scene quickly draws the attention of many other artists and bands, including a popular girl band called "Nymphology". Unfortunately for Hazel, a mix-up and unintentional awful encounter ends up creating tension between the two groups right before they all leave for Nymphology's upcoming tour. Now forced to frequently interact with someone who she was convinced couldn't stand her, Hazel is desperately trying to fix things with the band's lead guitarist. However it doesn't help that Y/N is actively avoiding Hazel as much as possible, and the fact that Hazel found her insanely hot definitely didn't make things any easier.

Warnings: angst, rockstar au, eventual smut, slowburn, swearing, occasional alcohol mentions/use

Word Count: 4377

“Should we get mac and cheese?” Josie asks as she pushes the shopping cart as her and Hazel wander through the grocery store aisles to get a few snacks and food for their hotel room.

“Like the microwave one or the stove one?” Hazel asks as she furrows her brows.

“Either one.” Josie says as she shrugs.

“Josie, we don't have a stove in the hotel.” Hazel says as she shakes her head. “Or literally any cooking items.”

“You can make boxed mac in the microwave, I do it all the time at Sarah Lawrence.” Josie says with a shrug as she looks at Hazel.

“That sounds disgusting.” Hazel says as she scrunches up her face a bit.

“I mean it tastes the same for the most part, mac is mac. You just have to get the shell ones or sometimes the noodles clump together and then I guess it’s a little weird.” Josie says as she grabs a few boxes of mac and cheese as well as the microwavable cups.

“Do you know when we hear from Wyatt if we get a record deal or not? Oh shit.” Hazel asks as she absentmindedly runs her hand along the shelf tags, eyes going wide as she accidentally knocks a few of them to the ground, mentally panicking as she immediately grabs them and starts trying to put them back in their spots. “Oh hey, we should get gummy worms too.”

“I mean the meeting is today, so we should find out soon.” Josie says as she shrugs. “What happens if they sign us?”

“I dunno? We make a record?” Hazel says as she looks over at Josie.

“No, like, are we staying in the hotel the whole time? I don’t want to live in a hotel.” Josie says as she gives Hazel a look.

“I mean we’d probably get an apartment, wouldn’t we?” Hazel says as she gets a confused look.

“I can’t afford Los Angeles!” Josie says as her eyes go wide in horror. “I can barely afford mac and cheese! How am I supposed to pay for an apartment?”

“Well they would pay us right? Plus it’s cool, if we get signed I can probably ask my mom to chip in or something. I’m pretty sure she has a beach house out here that she vacations at with boyfriends. My dad bought it for her when they were still together as an “I’m Sorry I Cheated” house. I heard them fighting about it in middle school.” Hazel says as she shrugs. “I can see if we can use it or something.”

“You never told me your dad cheated?” Josie asks with a confused and shocked look on her face.

“Well, yeah. You never asked, I didn’t think it was important.” Hazel says as she shrugs.

“I mean, you don’t have to, but I would tell you if something like that happened. You’re one of my best friends.” Josie says with a shrug.

“Wait, really?” Hazel says as she gets a surprised look on her face.

“Hazel, we’re literally in a band together and we hang out all the time.” Josie says as she gives Hazel a funny look.

“Yeah but I thought it’s mostly you and PJ doing stuff and me just tagging along.” Hazel says with a slightly confused look.

“What? No!” Josie says as she gives Hazel a confused look. “Hazel, you’re like the main reason the band exists, and I wouldn’t have come if you didn’t convince me.” Josie says as she shakes her head.

“PJ said you agreed to join the band because she said you’d get a girlfriend.” Hazel says as she frowns and gives Josie a confused look as well.

“Hazel, PJ says a lot of stuff.” Josie says as she rolls her eyes. “I love her, but she just talks to talk half the time. I never even wanted to be in a band, it scares the crap out of me, dude. I know I complained about the bowling alley a lot, but playing at the party was like the worst stage fright I’ve ever experienced.” Josie says as she shakes her head while grabbing a few grocery items off the shelves and into the cart she was pushing.

“But then why’d you-” Hazel starts to say before Josie cuts her off.

“Because I remembered you had always wanted to be in a band. Didn’t you have an obsession with Kiss or something when you were younger?” Josie says as she glances at Hazel.

  “I did, I went as Paul Simmons for Halloween one year.” Hazel says as she nods.

“See? That’s why I joined. You love music, and you do all the hard stuff like getting outfits and gigs and everything, I just have to show up and play, which is good because I think if I had any other responsibilities I would crumble under the pressure because I get anxious enough about performing.” Josie says as she shakes her head.

“I thought you guys didn’t like the cat ears?” Hazel says as she furrows her brows in confusion.

“I thought they were kind of fun.” Josie says as she shrugs. “I mean, I wouldn’t have cared if we didn’t wear them, but it was a cool idea. And people liked it and it fits with the band name.” Josie says as she shrugs. “I think it should be part of our outfits.”

“Wait, really?” Hazel asks as her face lights up with excitement. “Why didn’t you tell me I was the reason you joined?” 

“Because PJ takes over, so when she says we’re doing this to get girlfriends, you kind of just have to go along with it.” Josie says as she gives Hazel a look.

“I was never doing it to get a girlfriend. I just like the drums.” Hazel says as she furrows her brows.

“Yeah, but you can also say no to PJ, cause you don’t care. She’s my best friend so I just kind of go along with things after a bit.” Josie says as she shrugs.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Hazel says as she shrugs, before realizing something irrelevant to the conversation. “Oh I forgot to tell you, that girl you like is at the same studio as us. You know, the one from Nymphology with the like-” Hazel starts to say as she gestures at her chest where hair would be if she had long hair, but Josie cuts her off as she starts nervously laughing.

“Oh my god, please don’t remind me!” Josie says as she stops walking and leans her head against her arms as they rest on the shopping cart. “I already met her, and I almost threw up.” 

“What? You threw up?!” Hazel asks in shock as she gives Josie an alarmed look.

“No! God I would die if I did! I wasn’t being serious! I was just a total idiot when I talked to her!” Josie says as her eyes go wide and she shakes her head.

“What’d you say? I mean it probably wasn’t that bad, you’re a very likeable person.” Hazel says as her face scrunches up in confusion.

“Well I saw her, and I choked on the water I was drinking, and then she came over and asked if I was okay, and I said yeah, and then she was like “I’m Isabel” and I was like “I’m Josie” and then I stared at her for like a second and then looked away, and then I asked if she liked water because I couldn’t think of anything to say.” Josie says awkwardly as she looks up at the ceiling.

“Well did she?” Hazel asks.

“Did she what?” Josie asks Hazel with a confused look.

“Did she like water?” Hazel says as she looks at Josie expectantly.

“Yes. She did. Everyone does, Hazel, you need it to live.” Josie says as she looks at Hazel a bit in disbelief. 

“Well now you have something in common!” Hazel says as she smiles a bit, clearly thinking she was being helpful, as Josie sighs and shakes her head.

“We gotta work on how you comfort people, dude.” Josie says as she gives Hazel a look.

“What’s wrong with how I comfort people?” Hazel says as she furrows her brows in confusion.

“It’s not that there’s something wrong, you just-” Josie says before sighing. “I just mean that if you weren’t one of my best friends and I didn’t know you, I would think you’re being a dick and making fun of me.”

“Oh, really? I thought that would be helpful, cause now you have something in common with her.” Hazel says as she shrugs. 

“I-” Josie starts to say before stopping and sighing a bit. “Thank you Hazel, that actually is helpful.” Josie says as she nods, though she definitely was just saying that to not make Hazel sad.

“Oh really? Sick!” Hazel says with a grin. “Oh you know what you should do? Mention moss! Because it can help you find water! And then you have two things to talk about!” Hazel says excitedly as they continue shopping.

“Hi mom!” Hazel says into the phone excitedly from her hotel room, feeling like she was about to pass out. She had just got back from the meeting with the record label, and The Pussycats had officially been signed for a three year contract, and if their first album did well, then that would most likely be extended. They started recording the rest of the album tomorrow, and the label agreed to pay for the hotel for the time being until the three of them found a place to live in. 

“Hi sweetheart! How are you!” Hazel’s mom says into the phone, sounding like she was yelling for some reason.

“Are you yelling? Why are you talking weird?” Hazel says with a confused tone.

“I’m on my elliptical right now, but I have a face mask and I’m doing that cucumber thing on my eyes! Annie said it will help with my bags and the dark circles! Annie, say hi to Hazel!” Her mom says over the phone, talking to her best friend Annie.

“Hi Hazel! How’s college?” Annie says in the background.

“No, Annie, she’s not at Sarah Lawerence right now, for that… that band thing.” Hazel’s mom says over the phone.

“Oh that’s right! How’s LA? Have you met Robert Downey Jr. yet?” Annie asks in the background, yelling as well.

“I’m here for music stuff, not movies.” Hazel says into the phone as she shakes her head.

“It could happen! If you meet him, tell him I’m single!” Annie yells, which makes Hazel roll her eyes.

“Yeah, sure, okay anyways, mom can I tell you my news now?” Hazel says impatiently.

“Yes, of course sweetheart! What is it? Annie shut up.” Her mom says over the phone.

“We got a record deal! The contract is for three years!” Hazel says excitedly, and her mother gasps over the phone.

“Oh my goodness! That’s amazing!” Her mom yells over the phone, though still clearly exercising as she talks. “Annie, did you hear that? Hazel’s going to be a musician!” 

“Yeah, I know! We start recording the album tomorrow!” Hazel says excitedly as she grins.

“That’s wonderful, sweetheart!” Her mom yells. “Siri! Siri! Si-Ri!” Her mom beggins yelling clearly trying to get her phone’s voice assistant to activate. “Annie why is Siri not working?” 

“Mom, why do you need Siri?” Hazel asks as she furrows her brows in confusion.

“I need to set a reminder to book a flight to LA!” She says to Hazel.

“What? Why?” Hazel asks, clearly confused by her mother’s sudden plans.

“Hazel, you’re going to be famous! I want to be there to see my little Witch Hazel spread her wings!” Her mom says into the phone, using a nickname from when Hazel was little, which makes Hazel groan.

“Mom, please stop calling me that! I’m not five anymore!” Hazel says with embarrassment.

“Siri! Siri! Oh for Christ's sake, Annie, I’m taking the cucumbers off.” Hazel’s mom says, before shuffling noise is heard as she seemingly grabs the phone. “Let me find a good flight, and I’ll fly out as soon as I can sweetheart!” She says excitedly, her voice significantly closer to the phone and not yelling as much since she was now holding the phone.

“No, mom you really don’t-” Hazel starts to say before her mom cuts her off.

“Do you girls need somewhere to stay? I assume you can’t be in a hotel the whole time.” Hazel’s mom says over the phone, which makes Hazel perk up.

“Yeah, actually! That’s part of why I called, I was wondering if we can rent out the beach house or something instead of getting an apartment, because PJ and Josie can’t afford rent out here.” Hazel says quickly. “We’d take really good care of it! We wouldn’t ruin it!”

“Oh, yeah, of course! We can sign you up for surfing lessons too, so you can be a California girl and get the full experience!” Hazel’s mom says with an excited tone.

“Oh I don’t really-” Hazel starts to say before she gets cut off again.

“No, no, no, trust me! You’ll want surfing lessons sweetheart! It’s very rockstar! Plus the instructors are usually hot. I had one a few years ago, what was his name?” Hazel’s mom says as she thinks for a second. “Well, I can’t remember, but I do remember he was very hot! We hooked up a lot that summer, he-” Hazel’s mom starts to say, before Hazel cuts her off.

“Ew, mom! I don’t want to hear about that!” Hazel says with a disgusted look on her face.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Her mom says defensively. “I’m just saying! They’re usually very hot!”

“Mom, I don’t even like men, you know this!” Hazel says, still disgusted at the topic.

“There’s girl instructors too!” Hazel’s mom says over the phone.

“Mom- I- No! I don’t- Can we go back to talking about the beach house?” Hazel says as she stumbles over her words.

“Alright, alright! I’m letting it go! Of course you can use the beach house sweetheart, we can work out all the details when I fly out. Anyways I have to go, I have a decorative bead making class in an hour and I have to change out of my workout clothes. I’ll text you the flight plans once I book it! I love you!” Hazel’s mom says before hanging up the phone, leaving Hazel confused.

“Decorative bead making class?” Hazel says to herself with confusion as Josie and PJ enter the hotel room.

“Hazel, there were the hottest girls at the pool just now, one of them was totally into me! I told you guys this was a good idea!” PJ says excitedly as she throws her towel down on one of the chairs in the hotel room.

“They looked at us like once, PJ.” Josie says as she gives PJ a look.

“Yeah and it was a “I’m totally into you” kind of look!” PJ says as she throws her arms up and looks at Josie. “Oh, Hazel, have you called your mom yet?” She asks as she flops down on the couch.

“Yeah! She said we can move into the beach house!” Hazel says with a smile.

“Fuck yeah!” PJ says excitedly as she punches the air.

“Hey guys? Have we like, put thought into what songs are going on the album?” Josie asks as she grabs a soda from the mini fridge.

“Shit!” PJ says as she sits up a bit.

“I mean I have, but it’s not-” Hazel starts to say as PJ cuts her off.

“Write it down! We need to have a plan for tomorrow! Fuck, Josie! Why’d you make me go to the pool!” PJ says as she panics a bit, as Josie throws her arm up in annoyance, as going to the pool had been PJ’s idea.

“Fuck, that’s not right.” Hazel says as she frowns and scribbles out the notes she wrote on the music sheet. She bites on her pencil for a moment as she thinks, before setting it down and readjusting the electric guitar she was holding and playing different note sequences over again as she tries to figure out the guitar part for a song.

She was currently the only one in the studio, PJ and Josie had left about thirty minutes ago to go grab dinner, but Hazel had stayed behind, determined to figure out this new song they were working on that had her stumped. She had already figured out the general beat and the chorus, but the more fine details and actual instrumentals to the song was frustrating her, as she couldn’t seem to figure out a vibe that she liked and matched with the vision she had for the song. Josie and PJ had tried to convince her to take a break, but she refused to leave until she figured this out, so here she was, alone with one of the electric guitars as she ran over the same section over and over again, trying to come up with something she liked. 

It had been about a week and a half since being signed, and they had been working constantly on the album, picking which songs, discussing with Wyatt, and had even decided to come up with a few new ones per Wyatt’s suggestion, giving them advice and his thoughts on what the album was missing. 

Staring off into space, she hums the general vibe of the song she had so far to herself, her fingers absentmindedly tap against the base of the guitar as she bites her lip a bit and thinks. Lost in thought, she doesn’t notice the sound of the door to the studio opening as she begins playing another random string of notes on the guitar, her brows furrowed in concentration.

“Is that for the album?” Y/N asks from the door, as she leans against the doorframe, making Hazel jump in her seat a bit.

“Oh my god, hi!” She says as she quickly turns and sees Y/N, heart immediately racing.

“Hi.” Y/N says as she grins softly. “They leave you in here by yourself?” She asks as she looks around at the empty recording studio.

“Oh, yeah. Josie and PJ went to go grab food but I wanted to stay and work on this new song we’re writing.” Hazel says as she smiles, trying not to show how nervous she is.

“Can I hear it? I promise I won’t steal it.” Y/N says with a small laugh, a teasing grin on her face that makes Hazel’s stomach do cartwheels.

“Oh it’s not- I mean- it’s- I’m still working on it. It’s in shambles right now.” Hazel says, nervously stumbling over her words.

“That’s okay, I won’t judge.” Y/N says with a laugh as she shakes her head. 

“Oh, I mean- uh, yeah sure, if you really want to then.” Hazel says as she nods a bit.

“Yeah, show me what you got so far.” She says with a smile as she walks inside, the studio door closing behind her as she goes and sits down on one of the chairs near Hazel.

“Okay, yeah. Um, so this song is supposed to be like towards the end of the album kind of. A lot of our songs are like in the alternative category, but Wyatt said we should add more variety to what we have so far, so we added a few slower ones, and for this one, PJ said she wanted it to be more “funky” but not 70’s, and I don’t really know what that means. We don’t even have all the lyrics either, it’s very unfinished right now.” Hazel says as she nervously runs a hand through her hair, avoiding eye contact with Y/N.

“What are you working on right now?” Y/N asks as she scoots a bit closer to see what Hazel had written down so far. “I can try and help if you want.”

“Really?” Hazel asks as she looks at her in shock.

“Yeah.” Y/N says as she smiles and nods her head. “Nymphology finished recording for the day, I was heading out but I saw someone was in here so I wanted to say hi in case it was you.” 

“Why me?” Hazel asks, both in shock and confusion.

“Well we didn’t really get to talk a few weeks ago, and I’m curious about the moss thing now, because I think it was Josie? But anyways, one of the girls in my band is named Isabel, and apparently Josie brought up moss the other day.” Y/N says as she laughs a bit. “I’m just curious now if that’s like a friend group thing or not.”

“No! It’s not! It’s my thing! I told Josie about it because she likes Isabel so I said she should bring up moss because they both like water, so it connects, and that’s what I do.” Hazel says quickly as she shakes her head, before her eyes go wide as she realizes what she said. “Shoot, don’t tell her I said that.” She says as Y/N laughs.

“So you bring up moss as a flirting tactic?” Y/N asks with a grin, which makes Hazel panic.

“What? What- No! No, I don’t- Sometimes, but like-” Hazel says as she immediately stumbles over her words and blushes a bit. “Anyways the song!” She says quickly as she turns back to the paper she had been writing on. What is wrong with me?! She thinks to herself as Y/N giggles. She was rarely like this around girls. Fuck. She seriously needed to ignore the fact that Y/N was super pretty and get her game back. Except when she actually thought about it, that was definitely very impossible. Double fuck. “Anyways, this is the part I’m trying to figure out right now.” Hazel says as she nervously runs her hand through her hair again before readjusting the guitar again, internally just a jumbled mess on nerves and anxiety as she begins playing what she had so far on the guitar.

“And your friend said she wanted it to be what? Funky but not 70’s?” Y/N asks after thinking for a minute, a quizzical expression on her face.

“Yeah.” Hazel says softly as she avoids eye contact, glancing all over, eyes falling on Y/N’s shoes though, as the red converse had a lot of doodles all over them.

“Can I see what else you have?” Y/N asks, a bit more serious now as Hazel hands her the papers and notes without saying anything. She reads over, her fingers tapping against the paper as she figures out the beat and the drum parts Hazel had so far. “I think the only “funky” kind of part should be the guitar. But even then less funky and more fun. Do you listen to Paramore?” She asks as she looks over at Hazel.

“Wh- Yeah, I do.” Hazel says as her head snaps up and she nods.

“I don’t know if this will make sense, but maybe coming up with something that sounds like how their album cover for After Laughter looks?” Y/N says as she shrugs and furrows her brows a bit.

“I- That does actually, yeah.” Hazel says as she nods.

“Like, hold on, let me think.” Y/N says as she furrows her brows for a moment. “Can I see that quick?” She asks as she gestures to the guitar. 

“Oh, yeah, here.” Hazel says as she hands her the guitar, heart unintentionally racing a bit as their hands accidentally brush against each other.

They spend a while going over random chord progressions and different melodies, until after a while, they had created a pretty solid backbone for the guitar part of the song, that Hazel and the others could flesh out more later. As time goes on Hazel gradually relaxes more, being able to focus on the song and music helping her distract herself from her nerves, and allowing her to start cracking jokes more and actually engage in conversation outside of the song and music stuff.

By the time Josie and PJ arrive, Y/N was telling Hazel about crazy fan experiences, and wild things that had happened to her and her friends over the years, laughing as she mentions the time she had created a fake twitter account and started beef with herself and how pissed the fans got at her burner account. 

“Hey, Hazel- Oh. Hi?” PJ says as she walks in, doing a double take when she sees Y/N.

“Hi.” Y/N says with a smile as she looks over at PJ and Josie. “I’m Y/N. I’m friends with Hazel.” She says as she smiles and gestures to Hazel, the statement making Hazel smile.

“We know. You’re in Nymphology.” Josie says as she nods a bit nervously.

“Mhmm.” Y/N says with a nod. “You’re Josie, right?” 

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Josie says as she nods.

“Isabel’s told me about you.” Y/N says with a small giggle, making Josie blush and get a nervous smile on her face as she looks away, clearly worried about the fact Isabel had mentioned her to her bandmates.

“I’m PJ!” PJ quickly says as she stares at Y/N.

“Anyways, um, you should probably go, thanks for the help.” Hazel says quickly as she gathers the papers scattered around them.

“Oh, yeah of course, anytime.” Y/N says with a smile.

“Yeah, yeah, thanks. It was fun, I’ll see you soon probably.” Hazel says as she quickly gets up, immediately nervous and embarrassed again now that PJ and Josie were there.

“If you need any more help, let me know. It was nice meeting you guys.” Y/N says to Hazel before turning and smiling to PJ and Josie as she walks out, shutting the door behind her after waving bye.

“What the fuck?” PJ says in shock as her and Josie immediately look at Hazel, who was now heavily blushing as she fiddles with the shirt she was wearing.

I genuinely love writing this story its sm fun. I love Hazel she's so cute. Also I fr have no clue how record label stuff works so I'm kinda just pulling this out of my ass lmao. I'm like "yeah I watched Daisy Jones and The Six and can google basic steps for this, good enough" and then just hoped it would be accurate dfdhsfkjhej. dividers from @saradika and @animatedglittergraphics-n-more graphic made by me lol

[bagog]

Star Trek: Discovery Narrative Highlights

So I really like Discovery, but differently than I like other Star Treks. My love for Voyager, for instance, is based off the sense of found-family in the face of sci-fi shenanigans. I could pick out favorite episodes, but my favorite episodes don't necessarily represent the epitome of what I love about the show, y'know?

It's different with Disco. There are concrete moments from through out the show that made me go "Okay, I like this, I want this. More of this." Here's some of them! This is indulgent and all from memory

Season 1 - Klingons Speak Klingon

In a story about Klingons fearing the Federation as an institution which will irrevocably alter their culture, the Klingons actually speak Klingon. Love it. Season 1 - Gabriel Lorca

I loved seeing a Star Fleet captain who seemed to have ascended because of his skill at war: a trait which ordinarily would not elevate one within Starfleet service, per se. It made him interesting. Your mileage may vary on where this went, but. He's still a big appeal on rewatch.

Season 2 - Queer People Helping Queer People

The introduction of Jet Reno is one of my favorite hallmarks in the show. I love Jet, and I love the way she serves as a foil to every other character. But best of all, I loved the scene when she is talking to Hugh Culber about how distant he's been from his husband (since coming back from the dead, so, you know) and helps him by relating her own story about her wife, who is now passed. To say I'm happy to see queer stories on Star Trek is a massive understatement, but this was the moment it locked in for me. In the world of the Federation, there's no difference between being queer or straight and anyone could've talked Hugh out of his funk. But in our world, it's usually queer people helping queer people make sense of their experiences. Recognizing the importance of that distinction and going with the queers-helping-queers take is a really big deal for me.

Season 2 - Amanda

This is hands-down the best representation of Amanda we've ever been given and she is so wonderfully human and warm that it helps you understand Spock and Michael so much better. I don't know what to say other than that, I love her.

Season 3 - The Future

I love that they went not just into the future, but further into the future than any mainline trek lore has gone. Hell yes. I'm bummed it's kinda a post-Utopian mess, but I get storywise why that's the case. I love the future starships, I love the future technology, I like that we just "BZP" to wherever we want to be in the ship now. In a show increasingly steeped in centuries of canon lore, it's smart and challenging to try to do "a millennium in the future."

Season 3 - Queer Family

Queer Family! Queer Family in Star Trek! This is my queers-helping-queers point but dialed up to 11. Love it, would do anything for it.

Season 4 - Artificial Intelligence

The ship is alive and she's named herself. This comes to a head in an episode in Season 4 where Paul Stamets feels very hesitant about this, after the plot of Season 2 was trying to stop AI from destroying the galaxy. There's this whole Measure of a Man but Not Quite Because Its the B Story thing going on, but at the end of it, there's a twist. Paul eventually learns to accept his new crewmate, but then he asks the person in-charge of the inquest "What would you have done if I said I wasn't comfortable serving with an AI?" and the dude goes "I would've assigned you to another ship. This was never about whether she has a soul or whatever, it's about if you can learn to accept that with you 22nd century brain." And that's.... that's great.

Season 4 - Mental Health

Mental Health is a thread running through some of Discovery (Season 2 flirts with Spock's neurodivergence, for instance) but never more than in Season 4. Hugh Culber, the ship's ray of sunshine and de facto counselor, is in bad shape, mentally, and he needs help. But the best moment is when the away-team is beset by chemical memories of panic and basically rendered useless with fear... except for Detmer, who helps them all get through it. When asked why she was unaffected, she says "Oh I totally was affected, but after my grievous injury during the war, I went to therapy for the PTSD and learned some coping strategies" AND THAT'S WHAT SAVES THE GALAXY.

Anyway, this is very indulgent and probably nobody reads this, but thanks if you did.

[knights-unwelcommentary]

Thinking about Jade and Karkat's relationship through the game and how it would develop after it

The way I see it Karkat was a thorn in Jade's side for years because of the trolling plan, which came to a halt when she blew up at him for being an ass and he immediately did a 180 into respecting her mettle and dragging her into his (silly as hell) caliginous campaign against his time displaced selves. This all is pretty ridiculous and Jade's rightfully mad about it, but the thing is that Karkat derives some degree of satisfaction out of getting her to be as outraged by her circumstances as she should be so her giving in to her negative feelings ends up not being a big deal at all, which must have been a huge relief for her

Then the whole thing with Jadesprite happens, which results in both of them reaching an unspoken understanding. Karkat gets to befriend someone that finally gets it, and Jade gets to put some light on things she doesn't really like about herself

Their cooperation through the rest of the pre scratch session turns into Jade mostly treating Karkat like a goofy misbehaving pet like the one she just lost and getting some help for a change (which she also gets from Kanaya), and Karkat alternating between trying to get her to blow off some steam and being agreeable in a way he usually can't allow himself to be. At that point they're racing against the clock and shouldering a lot of responsibility so I think it's quite fitting

But then comes murderstuck and Karkat going "everything's wrong and everything's my fault forever"

Followed by Karkat's attempted confession(parting words?) and Jade's death, none of which they ever got to speak about

So my best guess is that after the game they'd try to go back to the usual banter but it would be kind of uncomfortable for a while because of the unsaid stuff and how heavy the situation got at the tail end of it. They would have to get way too real a few times to get out of that funk. They might eventually become each other's confidants

[valsnonsense]

The Darnell/Diamond Family

I fucked up on D's hair please forgive me sir

My most cracky of crack ships given life!! I really had fun with this one, especially designing an older Tiny Diamond (or TD as he's called in the future)

Short story for this family. Guy and D met at the big gift exchange party held during the holidays and struck up a conversation. D was impressed by Tiny's rhymes and wanted to give compliments to him and his dad. Guy was immediately taken by the funk Prince, he was just so suave and charming!!

Tiny was not as enthused. How dare this guy swoop in and steal HIS daddy?! Who does he think he is?!

There was a very one-sided war between Tiny and D, as in Tiny was trying to "compete" for Guy's affections, while D was oblivious to it all. Eventually, after realizing Tiny did feel threatened by his presence, D did talk to the young kit, saying he wasnt there to steal his dad from him. In fact, he needed some help to figure out what to give Guy in his hatchday! Tiny knew him best, after all.

Little Tiny decided to bury the hatchet and "allowed" D to date his dad (Guy was a bit embarrassed that TD made such a bit deal but D just waved it off, I mean it's normal for kids if single parents to feel a little threatened by a boyfriend/girlfriend)

Eventually, once D becomes King of Funk, he pops the question to Guy (with Tiny's blessing) and the two get hitched. A few years later, the two have Blaise.

TD fell in love with Blaise almost instantly. He was so fuckin stoked to be a big brother!! TD was always checking on Blaise, making sure he was always smiling, he never left the kits side.

The whole family still lives in Vibe City, with TD working as professional Radio DJ. Guy is super proud of both his babies and tries over them often. D is so happy for both his kids to be pursueing their dreams, and never fails to show up at gigs or races for either of his son's.

And that's the Darnell/Diamond fam! I loved working on this one and diving into how TD saw D at first. Once again D I fucked up ur hair I'm so sorry ndbdjdj

[jmagnabo92]

PM - 105 - June 13 - Surround

@prongsfoot-microfic

In the wake of the fight with Molly, Sirius gets upset and James has to pull him out of his funk with some cuddling.

AO3

***

Whenever Sirius is upset, he tends to curl up into a ball on his bed.  Sometimes as Padfoot, sometimes as himself.  This was one of those moments that he’s himself.  Curled up in a ball on his bed, wishing that he was anywhere else in the world since he absolutely hates being back in his childhood bedroom. 

Yet, he is.  

The fight with Molly over his son Harry affected him more than he tried to let on.  The only thing that helped was James supporting him.  His return was everything to Sirius and Harry because they needed James right now when they’re both in vulnerable positions right now and they need someone who isn’t in the same state.  

Still, having his support, didn’t stop him from his thoughts that maybe Molly’s right.  He hasn’t been the best father/godfather.  He made mistakes and he’s currently in hiding because he’s still a fugitive.  He couldn’t support Harry better than living in a cave in Hogsmeade.  He couldn’t do anything so why should he have any rights to Harry when he might just screw it up?

Maybe he would be better off if Sirius left Harry in James’ capable hands and disappeared.  

Just as he thinks that he can feel strong arms surround him.  He closes his eyes and takes in the smell of coconut, James’ favorite smell, and knows – even though it was obvious – that it’s James.

He doesn’t say a word, just letting the hug and feeling of not being alone anymore surround him for a few minutes.  It feels good and chases away the doubts clouding his mind.  There’s a special comfort in smelling James surrounding him. 

It’s nice and Sirius loves it.  Especially since James is always good about giving him the chance to speak first.  He won’t say a word until Sirius feels good enough to say something.  

He revels in the feeling for a few minutes, but eventually… “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” James questions.  “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Sirius turns around in James’ arms.  “Of course I have – our son is suffering because of me and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

James shakes his head.  “None of us knew what was going to happen and frankly, I don’t think Molly has a leg to stand on considering that she hasn’t been the supportive force she claims to be for Harry.  She’s got no room to talk and you’re doing just fine.”

“Just fine isn’t enough – I’m dragging you both down…”

“Lies.”

“It’s not a lie.  Harry worries about me when I should be worrying about him…. And I can’t even help him, and it all started with my bad decision to go after the rat.”

“Listen to me, Si, it’s not your fault.  Things happened and yeah, they weren’t our best decisions – having Harry in the middle of a war, Lily and I making ourselves a target and not just leaving the country, you off fighting when you should’ve been staying with us and the keeper, trusting Pettigrew, letting Dumbledore and Hagrid steal Harry away… they were bad decisions and it sucks that that is what happened, but we can’t do anything about the past.  It is what it is, and we have to deal with that.”

Sirius shakes his head.  “How can you make that list and not think that it’s all my fault?”

“Because we made most of those decisions together,” James states, plainly.  “The three of us were always a unit and we didn’t make choices on a whim.  We planned and thought it through.  Unfortunately, I was too trusting.”

Sirius opens his mouth to refute him, but James says, “Don’t you dare.  It was me that said I trusted Pettigrew, that after everything we went through together that he would never betray us.  You and Lily were very vocal that things were changing and we could only trust each other, but I stood my ground.”

“But if I never suggested pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes…”

“That was a brilliant plan.”

Sirius scoffs.

“No, really, it was.  Utterly brilliant, there was just the minor flaw of literally choosing the rat,” James states.  “If he had been as loyal as you, and hadn’t been the rat, diverting the attention away from him would’ve been brilliant.  It just so happens that he wasn’t loyal.”

Sirius hums.  “I suppose you’re right.  Still, now, I’m a fugitive and …”

“And nothing, you’re not a weight dragging us down.  Harry loves you – more than anyone else – he knows that he can go to you and be honest and free.  Exactly what he needs right now.”

“He has you now.”

“But I’m not you,” James states.  “I’ve only been back a week, and it’s going to take a lot longer to get him to trust me and even when he does, he’s likely always going to prefer you.”

“You think?”

“I know,” James says, smiling softly at him. 

Sirius smiles, too.  “Thanks, love.”

“Anytime.”

[clonewarslover55]

I’m sad that there’s nothing about Commander Monk too :(

May we please fix that? Maybe some SFW/NSFW headcanons :)

Hell yeah we can fix that!!! I was super excited to do this!! 

This got me out of my writing funk!! I'm back babyyy

Commander Monnk relationship headcanons SFW and NSFW

(There are some general head canons as well, I had way too much fun with his character. I mention Kit Fisto a lot in here as well)

Notes: We don’t see much of Monnk so I had to make up a good portion of his character myself. Which I had too much fun doing, so this is kinda long

Also there is no official regiment name(Like the 501st or 212th) for Kist Fisto, Commander Monnk and their boys?!?!?!?!? So I think I should fix that eventually....

Gif incase you guys don't remember how smoking fucking hot he is

SFW

This man probably loves literally any body of water 

He loves swimming and all that jazz 

But you def meet him at coruscant drinking and relaxing with some of his fellow scuba boys 

He isn’t strictly a scuba trooper 

He is Kit Fisto’s 24/7 second in command, so he does work on land too

So he looks like your typical “I deal with a crazy Jedi every day and don’t get enough sleep.” clone commander  

He is probably watching a few of his friends dance around and flirt poorly 

As he leans against the bar with a drink in his hand 

He looks kinda tired and unamused by the bar scene 

But don’t underestimate him 

This man is definitely a flirt 

And damn is he good!! 

He has learned from the best 

The best? Kit Fisto 

Kit has taught him how to charm the pants off of anybody 

Does it work? 

Maybe

But Monnk isn’t the one to not text you after a date or night of fun 

You get a good morning and things keep going from there 

Most of your dates are, of course, at your place 

Monnk shows up with flowers and snacks 

If you make dinner he would love to help! 

He doesn’t know jack shit about cooking 

All he can do is make a mean cup of coffee and some instant cup noodles 

But he wants to learn and learn fast! 

Monnk can be trusted in the kitchen too, he won’t burn down your home

As your relationship grows over time, Monnk’s cooking improves 

Soon he begins to cook for you! And he's good at it!

He brags to his brothers and definitely brings some leftovers to them 

Maybe he cooks for them, maybe he tells them to learn for themselves 

It’s both 

Like all clones, Monnk is touched starved 

This man just wants some cuddles 

And for someone who isn’t a fellow clone to braid his hair 

Monnk definitely has long hair

And melts when you run your fingers through it 

Tracing your fingers along his stubble? He is goo in your hands 

Just touch him, he needs it 

He tries to look all cool and badass (He thinks he is too)

With his matching tattoo sleeves (definitely matches his armor markings and colorings)

And his cool hair and five o’clock shadow 

And that tired look in his eyes

But he is just a big ol’ teddy bear who wants love 

And you are here to provide it 

Monnk is a big time cuddler 

He loves being your weighted blanket 

Just holding you and touching you makes his heart content 

This does mean that he is a slight fan of PDA 

He isn’t extreme with it or too possessive 

Just a tiny bit 

He loves holding your hand, fiddling with your fingers

Monnk doesn’t mess around when it comes to falling in love 

He falls HARD for you (The feeling is of course mutual) 

And is soon making himself right at home in your Coruscant apartment 

You definitely buy him some cozy pajamas and sweatpants 

So he can lounge around in comfort 

In turn he brings you back presents from his missions 

It is often a beautiful rock or a pretty seashell 

Working as a scuba trooper means he has many opportunities to find you cool things 

And boy does he! You have a lot of cool things from his adventures 

Mostly seashells, but one time he brings you home a big ass tooth 

Monnk has a tiny tiny hint of surfer bro in him 

A TINY BIT 

He is flirtatious and very charming 

But sweet! 

He definitely picked up a bit of Kit Fisto’s personality 

So he has great humor and keeps you on your toes 

In every way ;)

Sometimes when he comes home, he’ll just haul you up into his arms and give you a spin 

Monnk loves doing anything he can to keep things interesting and fresh

Everytime he comes home after a mission you get a different kind of greeting 

But he always, ALWAYS, gives you a big kiss 

This man is obsessed with your lips and giving them smooches 

Which you don’t mind because this man is an excellent kisser 

But something he is better at is being a good friend and listener 

He will always be your shoulder to cry on 

He always listens to what you have to say 

Monnk loves every story you have 

He has some good ones himself! 

You two can spend hours just talking to one another 

Enjoying each others company is the perfect date for Monnk 

That and bubble baths 

He loves water, and is in it often, so baths are a good time for him 

He’ll try to be romantic 

And boy howdy is he!! 

He’ll try to set up cute dates and outings with you 

He demands one, sometimes two, date nights per leave 

Monnk gets leave often, not as much as the 501st of course 

Kit is needed on Triple Zero(Coruscant) often 

Monnk tries his hardest to spend every moment with you 

If he can’t he will make up for it 

Monnk thinks you are absolutely beautiful/handsome and lets you know! 

He is always telling you how much he adores and loves you 

And how magnificent you are 

He always has some compliments to give you

He’ll notice the smallest things too

New haircut? He loves it!! New jewelry! He loves it, especially since it's on you!

Being in war leads to PTSD, and of course most, if not all, of the clones have it to a degree 

Including Monnk 

His comes in nightmares, so he doesn’t sleep well or often 

Until he meets you 

The first night he sleeps in your bed he sleeps like the dead  

He sleeps so much better at your side

Holding you in his arms or being held in yours just helps! 

This doesn’t mean that the nightmares stay away completely 

He still has them from time to time 

But with you there to help? They’re never as bad as they used to be 

Monnk absolutely loves you, and he tells you daily 

He has to make sure you remember after all ;)

 

NSFW 

I feel like Kit Fisto makes sure his men know how to properly fuck 

He has a slideshow or something 

So Monnk knows what he is doing down there 

He has a good memory and is a fast learner 

So he quickly learns what makes you tick 

And he never forgets 

Monnk is very attuned at what you like 

Monnk wants nothing more than to pleasure you 

He’ll make sure to always do what you like

Kinky or not! 

Monnk is down for anything

Not at anytime though, he isn’t really down for public sex 

He doesn’t want to get caught or in trouble 

Unless it is on a beach, one of his fantasies is taking you to a nice quiet beach somewhere and just railing you 

Maybe even having another round in the ocean afterwards  

Being a scuba trooper means he has a good set of lungs 

So when he is giving you oral he doesn’t need to take a single breather 

He is down there and giving you the works! 

Monnk loves your taste, and he makes sure you know it by his pleasant noises 

His scruff always tickles you a bit, but it just adds to to the sensation 

Monnk is VERY patient, especially when it comes(pun intended) to you 

He can spend hours just teasing you

Bringing you to the very edge, just to not let you cum

He loves teasing you some, but he isn’t too extreme 

But he never leaves you hanging! He always makes sure you cum 

No matter what, you’re going to cum. Even if it is just a quickie! 

Always making sure you cum is his one rule 

Is this a rule that Kit Fisto gave him? Definitely, and Monnk is a good rule follower 

Which makes things fun when he isn’t topping 

If you two ever play any “games” where he has to listen to you and follow orders? Oh he will 

Monnk will do anything for you, he loves you so much! He’ll try anything once

Monnk will also cum where ever you want him too, he’ll do it pretty much anywhere 

Inside you, painting you in it, whatever you want 

All clones have a bit of a breeding kink, but his isn’t too bad 

So he doesn’t HAVE to cum inside you, but he does enjoy it 

Painting you in it also does something to him

He just enjoys marking you, no matter if it is with cum or with love bites 

He loves kissing you during sex, his mouth hardly leaves your body 

He just can’t help himself! You’re just so kissable 

Monnk is a romantic, so he loves some soft intimate nights 

Fucking you slowly, hitting every spot so perfectly 

But he isn’t always soft and romantic 

Sometimes he fucks like a beast 

He loves taking you roughly until you’re both spent and out of breath 

Monnk enjoys when he has time with you, so he has time to properly worship your body 

Monnk thinks you are the most beautiful person in the galaxy 

And he lets you know! 

Through words, praises, and actions 

He loves praising you during sex, he is always throwing compliments and soft phrases your way 

He likes praise in return, but he prefers touch 

Run your nails down his spine, make him shiver

Bury your hands into his hair, it’ll drive him nuts 

Any sort of touching, rough or soft, drives monnk wild 

Monnk enjoys quickies, but he doesn’t like them as much because he can’t do much aftercare, if any at all 

He also doesn't like it because he doesn’t have the amount of time to properly worship your body 

He is great at aftercare, he makes you feel so loved and cared for 

He’ll clean you up and sometimes even draw up a warm bath 

Bathtub sex almost always happens though 

He loves some good ol’ sex in some water 

But it all depends on what you guys did and how tired you are 

Because sometimes Monnk will leave you both so spent that you want to sleep immediately 

He’ll give the softest kisses afterwards 

After you guys cool down and relax in the afterglow, he is down for pillow talk 

He actually loves pillow talk 

But by the end of the night, he makes sure you fall asleep safe and sound in his arms

[ridiasfangirlings]

I enjoyed reading the thingy of Yata being in an insane asylum so I was wondering if you'd do a Sarumi thingy—whatever you call these— of Med student Saruhiko and mental patient Yata

This is a nice twist, since usually Fushimi is the patient. Imagine Yata’s in a mental institution after dealing with a bunch of rough stuff, like he had a major bout of depression after the death of two of his friends, Mikoto and Totsuka, and started self harming and such. It worried his friend Kamamoto and Mikoto’s little sister Anna enough that they eventually convinced Yata to check himself into a mental institution for his own safety. Yata’s kinda struggling because he feels like he shouldn’t be here, like no really he’s fine this isn’t necessary, but then he also has these downward spirals feeling like he’s so worthless, he couldn’t save Mikoto or Totsuka and now he can’t even be trusted to look after himself. 

 Meanwhile Fushimi is a new med student working at the facility, probably mostly in non patient-facing roles because his bedside manner sucks. His advisor Munakata reminds him that part of working with mental patients is learning to empathize and understand them, Fushimi clicks his tongue and says that’s stupid, as doctors they should be impartial (and Fushimi himself probably holds thoughts like ‘I had problems and turned out fine without being in a mental institution so these people must be idiots,’ ignoring the part where he very much did not turn out fine). As it happens they’re short handed so Munakata sends Fushimi to administer some lunch and pills and a quick checkup to one of the patients, Yata Misaki. Munakata thinks this patient may be a good one for Fushimi to handle, Fushimi rolls his eyes but is like fine.

When Fushimi walks in Yata tries to be all friendly like hey a new face (and in honor of the typo I just made writing this, imagine he starts to say ‘a nice face’ and quickly stumbles over his words). Fushimi clicks his tongue and he starts mechanically reading off Yata’s chart. He’s surprised that Yata’s the same age as him, he figured Yata was a middle schooler. Yata’s like what the fuck kind of doctor are you and Fushimi curtly says he’s Yata’s, telling Yata to lie back so Fushimi can check on his vitals. Yata’s like well maybe I don’t want you to check my vitals, you could at least say please. Fushimi snorts and says he’s the doctor here so he’ll tell Yata what to do, Yata’s like oh yeah well if you want to check my blood pressure you’re gonna have to work for it. Fushimi wonders if Yata’s defying doctor’s orders and does Fushimi need to have him restrained, Yata’s like that’s power harassment you jerk. When Fushimi finally shoves Yata’s lunch at him Yata groans at how bland all the food is here and asks if the doctors get this kind of stuff too, like you’re probably eating good curry and hot pot while we get this baby food. Fushimi says he had a Caloriemate for lunch and didn’t complain so Yata shouldn’t either, Yata’s like you know you should enjoy being able to eat whatever you want while you can. 

Afterward Fushimi complains to Munakata that Yata’s annoying and loud, Munakata is pleased that they got along so well and decides to assign Fushimi to Yata’s case. Fushimi objects but Munakata won’t budge, he thinks this would be good for Fushimi’s development. Fushimi groans and says what a pain, Munakata tells him to treat his patient well. Of course Fushimi and Yata slowly start to enjoy each other’s presence, I imagine Yata likes that Fushimi never treats him like a sad sack or mental case, he can feel almost…normal when talking to Fushimi. But then imagine one day Yata has kind of a relapse and Fushimi finds him in a depressive funk in his bed, Fushimi suddenly finds himself grasping for all the things he knows he’s learned about this and struggling to be an impartial doctor because this is Misaki and Fushimi wants to be able to help him. Afterward when Yata’s feeling slightly better he weakly says he must have looked so uncool in front of Fushimi and Fushimi mutters at Yata not to say that kind of thing, isn’t there more to worry about than looking cool (and even as he says that Fushimi thinks that he wants to look cool in front of Yata, he wants to be one that Yata can come to if he’s having problems and be the one who solves them all).

[queer-geordie-nerd]

People who have followed me for a long time are very aware of the incredibly complex relationship I have with my father, the fact that I almost lost him a year and a half ago, and the absolute funk my mental health has been in until very recently, reckoning with what I thought was my father's impending death and what that meant, with my feelings about him as a person, and childhood crap that I'm still processing.

This story is something I have never talked about until now, but I feel I need to now, to get it off my chest if nothing else.

Around 25 years ago, when I was a very young teenager, a woman in the town where my dad has lived all of his life made an accusation of rape against him. She eventually retracted it, for reasons I'm not aware of. Throughout the whole thing, he remained a respected member of his community, his friends and neighbours rallied and supported him, saying that *of course* it wasn't true.

The poor woman, however, was pretty much shunned, called some of the worst insults on earth, and eventually left town. I've recently become aware that she returned a couple of years ago, and I honestly have no idea what her life is like now, but I do know my older sister, who lives in that same town now, as does my dad still, blanks and ignores her if she sees her.

The thing is, I *do* believe her. Not only because I know for a fact that false accusations are actually incredibly rare, but because I know my dad. I'm going to hasten to add here, that I have an extremely complicated relationship with him but there has NEVER been any whisper of sexual impropriety so that is absolutely not what I mean. Emotional and psychological abuse, yes, but NEVER anything else.

What I do mean is that he is a man for whom other people's feelings and wants don't really factor into the equation for him - as long as he's happy with a situation, that's all he cares about. There have been several times in my life where has tried to wheedle me into going somewhere that I didn't want to, to take a mild, inconsequential example. No is not a word he really understands. Couple that with his general misogyny and disregard for women, do I believe he is capable of not taking a woman's no for an answer in a sexual situation? Yes, I do.

It is a terrible thing to believe about one's dad - I love my father and I am still in regular contact with him - as I said, it's complicated - but I know what kind of man he is. Reckoning with this dichotomy has been a painful experience and this is the first time I've ever actually outright said that I unequivocally believe this woman.

Whatever she's doing in life, I hope she's happy and has some peace.

This may go some way to explaining why I always and absolutely believe women's experiences and perhaps why I feel such anger at men who do such things and get away with them leaving the woman behind to deal with the aftermath. Because my dad suffered absolutely zero consequences and is still a respected member of his community, and her life got turned upside down.

Now that I’m really thinking about it, this probably also explains my extreme emotional reaction to reading Mira’s revelation in her book that she was raped and never got justice - a woman I deeply respect and admire, yes, but my reaction was totally out of kilter for the experience of a woman I didn’t know personally and never met. Psychologically, my feelings about my dad, the woman in his town, and a celebrity that I happen to admire and whose work I enjoy (and also was a light in the dark for me when I felt at my worst) all got mixed up in my mentally tired and unwell brain. Not consciously, of course, but it did all the same.

[pepsi-maxwell]

small gestures

pairing: max caster/mjf rating: t (language) wordcount: ~1150 [ao3 link] prompt: @wrestleprompts week 5: a reluctant trip to the zoo to make their partner happy

-

It should be enough of a sign, Max thinks, that he’s willing to bring Caster to the zoo, in February, when half the park isn’t even open.

Apparently not, though, because all he’s done is bitch about Austin and Colten so far.

“—I mean, they cheated to win, pal, it isn’t fair—” he says, and Max has to really fight the urge to remind him of how the Acclaimed got the titles in the first place, because he’s trying to be nice to him for once, take him out to cheer him up, be a… ugh, a friend.

But apparently Caster is more content to vent about the ass boys, and how their body glitter was so distracting, and how Colten’s hair sucks, and Max just looks over despairingly at the monorail, because if he’d come at a sensible time of year he’d at least be able to sit down while Caster vented. Contemplate jumping out into the river or something to distract himself.

“Quit dwelling on it,” he says eventually, when there’s finally, finally, a blissful moment of silence. “You lost, big deal. You have a rematch clause, go challenge them at Revolution and stop whining to me about it.”

He feels like he deserves credit here for being far nicer than he could have been. For not laughing in Caster’s face that they got beat by the fucking Gunn Club, cheating or not, but instead, his kindness is being repaid by being forced to listen to Caster complain.

He should be on his knees thanking Max for deigning to bring him out to the fucking zoo, in February. Not talking about Austin and Colten, the thought of which is just making him angry, because he has his own problems with them and they could be bitching together, but the fact is, he doesn’t want Caster to complain, he wants Caster to—

“Let’s go see the lions,” he says abruptly. “Maybe we can watch them eat a goat, and pretend it’s Austin or something.”

He sees a minute twitch of Caster’s lips, which is more than good enough for him.

They’re a little too early to watch the lions eat, but they’re awake, at least, and the couple of cubs they have are playing in a way that makes him think of Piper and the way she flops down on her side when he comes home, and he thinks once again that Caster should be thankful he’s out here with all the poors, surrounded by animals, in February. 

He buys them both a coffee after the lions, because his hands are cold and he doesn’t have his gloves. Even lets Caster order some horrific sounding drink with far too much sugar and a colour not found in nature.

It perks Caster up out of his funk a little more, though. Enough to get him dragging Max around the next few exhibits, from the giraffes, to the gorillas, then to the reptiles, avoiding the bug house at Max’s insistence, but he’s still not completely back to normal.

Normal for Caster, at least, which is being a filthy pervert, but it’s a start. Not that Max wants to be bombarded with his attention again, but it’s just… 

He’s doing Caster a favour. That’s all it is.

He thinks he’s done well enough by the time they’ve done a full loop of the park. They’ve seen just about everything they could, including a couple macaques getting frisky, to which point Caster had finally said something sexual, and Max had thought, great. Job done, time to go home.

His feet are aching by the time they start the walk back to where he’d parked, and he’s thinking about blisters, which means he only half-hears when Caster says something to him.

“Thanks for the date, pal.”

He stops completely in the middle of the path. Looks at Caster, because he sounds… happy. Really happy. For the first time today, for the first time since Wednesday.

And he doesn’t sound the way he does when he does his fake flirting routine, which is the only reason Max doesn’t say “Definitely not a date, buddy,” before kicking him in the dick, walking off and leaving him here, but…

Today he’s being nice. Today he’s being a friend.

So this can be a date, maybe. Just this once. Just today.

“Don’t mention it,” he says, leaning in close. He watches Caster’s eyes widen comically before he presses his lips to his cheek. Just a chaste touch, even as his heart is racing in his throat, and he kinda expects Caster to try something, pull him in, kiss him properly. But he doesn’t, he just stands there looking like his birthday’s come early, so he slides his hand into Caster’s and squeezes as a reward for not getting fucking weird about it. 

It has the added benefit of letting him physically pull Caster to make him walk faster because it’s not getting any warmer out here and Max would really like to get back to his apartment and his cat, thank you.

“You tell anyone about any of this and they will never find all the pieces of your body,” Max says once they’re back at the car, because he still has his reputation to think about. Not that anyone would believe he willingly spent the day with Caster, but it never hurts to put the fear of Max into him.

He doesn’t think about how cold his hand suddenly feels without Caster’s in it as he reaches into his pocket for the keyfob to unlock it.

“Don’t worry, pal. Your secret that you’re really a sweetheart deep down is safe with me,” Caster says. “Besides, what’s to tell? I barely even got a kiss from you.”

Max feels his stomach jump as he glances over at Caster, leaning against his car in a way nobody else would be allowed to get away with. Looking at him with his eyes half-lidded, a smirk playing at his lips. Now he sounds more like he usually does. Now his words feel loaded with intent. Like he’s daring Max to kiss him properly this time.

And… it’s still technically a date, so… 

He reaches up to cup Caster’s cheek. Leans in close again, and this time Caster’s eyes fall shut, and Max hears the slight hitch in his breath before he stops breathing entirely.

He can hear his own heartbeat, racing in his chest.

“Don’t push your luck,” he whispers, before pushing Caster away.

And Caster laughs, gets in the passenger seat, and Max graciously lets him buckle himself in before starting the car, but he doesn’t say anything else, so Max thinks maybe, when they get to Caster’s place, before he gets out of the car, maybe he’ll end the date properly.

Because he’s such a good friend, after all.

[youngtomhardy]

Me on film by Cin Lona in Los Angeles, CA.

I haven’t had a place where I can endlessly type out thoughts for awhile… I wanna tell you what’s really been going on behind the scenes with my career. The highs, lows and everything in between. If you followed me here, you’re a true medranhoe. These might be long, but I hope you find these interesting. <3 Here’s my story so far…

After releasing Fluids & going viral on twitter a few times, I was found by a team parented by Epic Records in 2020. In hindsight, it’s better that I never officially signed. We had our first meeting on March 15, 2020, can you believe? The next day, the world shut down and I didn’t hear from them for months. They had just spent a shit ton of money on lunch with me where they told me they were gonna put me on tour as an opener, promised me Rock in Rio within the first 2 years of working, and a huge deal with the parent company. I was devastated when the lockdowns started, but I understood. We were all scared.

Eventually we got to talking again and tried to work during the pandemic. The music industry collapsed and TikTok became the way to break artists. So they encouraged me to get on there & start making content. Then they linked me up with a personal trainer. Took care of the costs, put it onto my development budget. In between, they’d whisk me away to estates in Palm Springs, 5 star hotels in Venice, insanely expensive dinners in LA’s art district. It was a dream come true, it was too good to be true. I predicted this would happen in my teen years. I feel like I’ve already seen my life happen, but that’s for another post.

From there, I wrote a radio top 40 single with AJ, got my first sync deals, got Fluids in front of Mike Dean and a couple other huge name producers (they all love the song by the way) and started working on my album with my co-producer Dan. He’s gone on to work with BTS and Noah Cyrus which is fucking amazing & honestly will be a great little quip for press when my album drops. A win is a win. The songs are great, we worked on 5 songs together for the record.

Slowly but surely, things looked less and less promising with the team. Texts and calls got less frequent, my personal training sessions were cancelled. I knew what was happening. Another part of my story I’d already foreseen. Even through all of this, they remained so kind & supportive, for which I’m grateful. Regardless, I could feel them pulling away and that hurt.

In spite of going viral on tiktok over and over again, my streams and listeners rapidly rising, the deal never happened. It hurt so fucking bad. I cried and screamed and raged and ranted to anyone who would listen. I’m still not fully over it, but I have a little more clarity & peace now. It wasn’t my fault & I know this is common in the industry, but I guess I was just really hoping to bypass that part of the story. I’ve always been an impatient fuck.

So I picked myself up like always do and said fine, I’ll drop this album myself. Started the rollout and the music got attention from bigger names. All. By. Myself. Personal Heaven dropped and it got to Slayyyter. She told me she loved the song, wanted a session with me, and we became friends. She’s the first pop star in the industry that went out of her way to be kind & work with me. I’ve always admired her so much, I really hope one of the songs we worked on (or will work on) comes out one day. I’m seriously so grateful for her friendship.

Then I started working with Funk LeBlanc and we made a song that was an instant success with fans. ‘Do Your Thing, Babe!’ went viral 5 times all in different scales. The lowest viewed tiktok had 60k, the highest almost half a million. Labels got into my email again, ranging from EMI (they ghosted me after 1 email — why i’ll never know — but that one hurt) to smaller indie efforts. A new team reached out to me, this time with ties to Columbia. A dream label of mine. I’m still working with the imprint label now, but things are a little more low key. No promises of deals, no expensive dinners, no parties, just little meetings here and there — a friendship almost. I don’t know if this is better or not, but it feels good and genuine. They love the music, the image, and I really am so thankful to my first team for helping me curate that side of myself.

So now, I spend my days going to sessions, doing quick jobs for extra cash, playing with my puppy, and working out. Kim Petras recently followed me and I don’t really know why but I love her & hope it’s for my music. I’m hoping to get into sessions with her one day too, maybe a collab? Hopefully. I just gotta really make my mark. I may not be where I want to, but my god am I further along than where I was. My project is finally out in January. My heart once broken is finally healing. For the first time in a long time, the future looks bright and I’m happy.

- Disco Dad.

[thedawningofthehour]

is anyone else pro draxum?? my boy galois needs a break from all this reverse kidnapping!! look at him!! he's crying and it's all the hamato clan's fault!!! i know he'll eventually go back home and be cured of his memory funk but galois is really happy with draxum and i wonder how he'll react to knowing his brothers caused him all this pain while he was there. he's healthy, he's happy, he's learning. that's what he wanted, isn't it?

i don't know, maybe i'm just making less of a deal with draxum's everything than I should be. but i really like galois with him and without all the drama with the turtles, he's really having a good time. he's thriving in this new environment!!

yeah, sure, draxum kidnapped him first and strapped him to a table and brainwashed him and absolutely traumatized him, but look!! parent child bonding!! proper praise for accomplishments!! no living in stinky sewer!!! regular health check ups!!!!

- totally not someone working for draxum (/silly)

(i really like the fic. i don't really comment much but it's very good and i always look forward to updates and your thoughts on chapters and people's art and reactions. i hope you have a good day!!)

There's a lot of pro Draxum people, but for some reason they don't really come out on tumblr.

I mean, it's kind of Draxum's fault they're living in the sewer and not getting vaccinated in the first place. Splinter would have gone into hiding in the Hidden City if it wasn't for him.

But yeah, he's being the second dad the boys deserved. If only he had agreed to work with Donnie to kill Jeff Bezos. That's the only 'good timeline' in this fic.

[ceo-of-sloppy-men]

Post-Game Outer Worlds Headcanons

I needed to write these. I'm in a sort of a funk. So have 'em.

This assumes the following conditions: chose to help Phineas post-game, sided with Phineas and didn't turn him in, and helped companions with their personal quests when needed.

The first thing "officially done" is getting Phineas back to his lab. The crew helps pitch in to clean up around the space (with Phineas reluctantly agreeing).

Ellie patches him up as Felix helps drag dead bodies out with Nyoka, SAM and the Captain do some cleaning, Parvati fixes broken mechanics (because she gets super excited and ends up throwing herself into more work on accident), and Max cooks something half-decent to eat.

The real work is done later when they start reviving the Hope's colonists. The crew doesn't immediately split with most of them helping to revive some colonists until there are enough people for it to be "self-sufficient."

Nyoka is the first to "leave". She's intent on going back to Monarch to lend a hand were she can and needs the rush of battle to truly feel alive. The lab just isn't her pace.

Parvati is the next to leave. She fixes Phineas' ship and many parts of the Orbital Lab, as well as necessary parts of the Hope, but expresses her desire to go to the Groundbreaker and help Juneli. The goodbye is tearful, both when she leaves the lab and when the Captain flies her over.

The Captain gives their old ship to Ellie, as Phineas' is fixed, and they don't need two ships at the lab. She keeps the old Monacair and they have to do a great deal of convincing to have ADA accept the change.

In the end, Ellie takes Felix, SAM and Max with her.

Max had requested to be dropped off in his home settlement and would make is way across Halcyon. Helping those who need help, and helping to usher hope through the colony.

Felix and SAM stay with Ellie, aiding her as she makes supply runs and less-then-legal trips around Halcyon.

As for the Captain, they put their skills to use helping Phineas in any way he may need. Most colonists are revived directly on the Hope and the newly rebuilt Board are responsible for the transport and reintroduction of said colonists. The lab itself is kept quiet and private.

Many supply runs are done for caffenoid and other ingredients; however, as the Hope is slowly revived, plants are grown in the lab so that boxed food isn't necessary. A part of one of the restructures from a Hope colonist.

As the years go by, occasionally, one of the Captain's former crew stops by to tell the Captain in elaborate detail about their adventures or simply grab a drink

Nyoka can always be found on Monarch when the Captain needs to kill something

When Phineas does eventually pass, he leaves the lab to the Captain. What they choose to do with it is up to them. However, they continue their quiet solitude, the Hope now able to revive themself without further assistance

Occasionally they are called upon to offer advice on certain matters, but mostly they're left to their own devices to truly take in Halycon or become a hermit in their own right. They truly have earned it.

Their companions stop by more frequently after Phineas passes, mostly to check in on the Captain. Some end up staying a few weeks, or going out on odd jobs.

Ellie has an open invitation for the Captain to join her on any runs

None of them live to see Halcyon truly flourish and heal, however, they see the startings of improvement. Without Earth's guidance, Halcyon is forced into independence, and with the help of the Hope, pulls itself up by the bootstraps

Or, that's what it looks like will continue to happen when the infamous crew of the Unreliable is dead and gone

[attackfish]

You don't know me because I just show up to stalk your 5HC posts every six months (it's not creepy I swear) but I would be eternally grateful for more Jet-Katara swap/Long Long Way. (We'll get to Ba Sing Se eventually!)

Oh honey, 1) that's not creepy, because this is an ask blog, and 2) I don't know you, but I do have a familiarity with your screen name, and that's the best I get most of the time.

Continued from Long Long Way: [Link]. Also continued from: [Link], [Link], and [Link].

1. After leaving Omashu, the gaang find themselves flying over the base of the mountains, and a broad flat swamp. They find themselves pulled down into it, or partly pulled partly chased into it, by a tornado. It's a small tornado, and not especially powerful. They've heard of tornadoes that could peel the flesh off your bones, and send stalks of rice like arrows to embed themselves in wooden houses. But anyway they find themselves in the swamp, and before they find the people who live there, they each see something. Aang sees a laughing young girl with flying boar, Sokka sees Yue.

2. And Jet sees his mother, hair on fire, dying in his place.

3. With a little help from the swamp people, who teach them a valuable lesson in the interconnectivity of the world, they are able to get out of the swamp, and they find themselves in a village where everybody wants Aang dead, gruesomely, because Kyoshi supposedly killed their great leader hundreds of years ago. Why does this always happen to them? Anyway, they go to Kyoshi island, to prove him innocent, but it turns out that actually he or she didn't kill the guy and they only escape when a crack Fire Nation team shows up and Aang has to fight them off to save the people who wanted to kill him. But anyway while they're on Kyoshi Island, they find out that Suki is not there, and Jet has a good long laugh at his brother, because what else are little brothers for then to mock you when you have a crush.

4. After they deal with that whole debacle, they find themselves in the lovely town of Gaoling, and said about actually finding Aang an earthbending teacher. They take in a little local tournament, and the winner of the tournament is very familiar to Aang. This leads to dinner with a high-class family, made much more awkward by the fact that not only are they all not at all rich, but they haven't really been doing laundry either so their clothes kind of have a funk to them. Somehow this all ends with the earthbending tournament champion and daughter of the house getting kidnapped, and them having to go help her break out, and her running off with them. Once again, why do these things always happen to them?

5. But here is where another problem kind of comes in, because with Jet instead of Katara, there is a nurturing element missing from the gaang. Sure, this is an emotional void, but it's also a void of the kind of person who makes sure that they all have clean clothes, and who cooks dinner, and makes life significantly more comfortable and clean and less dangerous in quite a few ways, so it ends up being Aang who does the cooking and he's not terrible but he's not great either, and laundry tends not to get done, and things tend not to be kept in a neat pile and things get lost and left behind and it's not great, and Toph is not any help on this front because Toph is Toph. And it's not like anyone is happy about this situation, but nobody has the skills or the wherewithal to fix it, and Toph is starting to realize just how much it sucks not to have servants.

[mitchelldailygames]

2023 Book Round-Up

This is going to be a quick list of some of my favorite books that I read this year. These aren’t books that necessarily came out in 2023 and they’re not in any particular order.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone OK, this one is in a particular order. It’s my favorite. I read this book twice this year, the first time based on the recommendation of that tweet a lot of people saw. I found it beautiful, and as someone who wants to eventually publish novels, very inspiring. The application of the epistolary style to its sci-fi concept (it is actually set in a time war) made for a compelling and unique feel to the book. The prose were absolutely gorgeous. The way the characters were human and the way they were inhuman was perfect. All of it got me thinking about how my own writing could reach further than I'd considered before.

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir I also read and really enjoyed Nona the Ninth this year, but Harrow was my favorite. The mystery of it all, the intense necromancer action, and the angst all adds up to the perfect Locked Tomb book. And the payoff at the end is so good.

On the Beach by Nevil Shute I read this after watching Jacob Geller’s Art in the Pre-Apocalypse video, and this is the write up that will end up feeling the least like a recommendation. This book messed me up. I read it while fall was tumbling towards winter in the often dreary Pacific Northwest (of the US). This book made me feel like the world was ending. I became immersed in the state of living life while the end drifted closer to the point I kind of started to believe it in real life. I certainly found it compelling in its restrained doom.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers This one is also in a particular order because I read it right after On the Beach and it plucked me right out of my funk. Where the previous book left me feeling like precious few moments were slipping away from me, A Psalm for the Wild-Built said it was OK to just be. This is a beautiful solar punk novella as is its sequel, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. It presents a possibility for a better world while giving a glimpse into the pathways we can take as individuals to move towards something better (while acknowledging that big changes need to take place on a macro level).

The Difference Engine by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson I tried reading this a long time ago because I was a fan of Gibson’s cyberpunk books and couldn’t get into it. I didn’t have that problem this year. Its steampunk London after the century-early arrival at the computer was very compelling. It fell prey to some tropes I’m not a huge fan of, namely that people in crisis will quickly resort to chaos and violence, but overall it was a story and setting that kept me reading all the way through this time.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer What a book! I’m currently reading Authority, and I love this brand of weird sci-fi/horror. I watched the movie forever ago, but really enjoyed (and am enjoying) the story that's told in the books. The unraveling of the group and of the biologist was a great read, and it was fun to see cosmic horror in the modern age done really well. The mystery of it all was really the hook of the book, and the things it leaves unanswered was really fitting for the story.

Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King I finished the Dark Tower series this year, but this was my favorite. The doombot bad guys, the way it expanded on the lore, and the gunslinger action were all really cool. The characters were all operating at their peaks in this book, while dealing with some deep, dark secrets, and it felt like it held the best of all the things the series has to offer.

Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt What a harrowing, powerful, complicated haunted house story this is. I will say this book is not for the faint of heart (and comes with trigger warnings at the beginning of the book), but I was left at the end of the story with the distinct feeling I had read something that would stick with me for a long, long time. It gets into the complicated ways identities interact and the way fascism breeds in societies and individual hearts. There are long sections that slip into disturbing rambles that become less coherent as they go on, which is perfect within the tone of the book. The things that haunt the characters throughout the story add and help give traction to all of these other pieces.

[ranger-rai]

Rai-Verse stories:

I have a lot of stories planned out for Rai, some I'm not sure if I'll ever get to, but I wanted to share some potentially funny or interesting things that will probably happen over time.

Rai has been given a unique transformation program by @alexanders-pokemon-adventure which let's him merge with his pokemon in a sort of power suit situation. (Still fleshing it out) Rai doesn't like putting his pokemon in danger and would rather be on the front lines, he still is dealing with the trauma of loosing his Brother and Father so he doesn't want thst to happen again.

At some point, Rai, Minnie and Tia get sucked into a strange portal where they meet alternate universe versions of Rai and some of themselves. Rai learns that the other versions of himself are very successful with the professor version of himself being the one who brought them all together, yet they find him as an anomaly due to his power and other reasons. They travel into multiverses by using an enslaves Hoopa, which main Rai objects to and manages to save. There's a version of Rai and Tia that are together and way into each other, Rai doesn't meet them, but she does.

Rai is pretty out of it from his multiversal travel, fearing he is the most inferior version of himself and believing he's failed at his life and can't pull himself out of the funk. A scenario with @prof-peach helps pull him towards better and gives him confidence to finally ask out Tia.

Over time he begins relying on others and realizing his importance, eventually he gets involved in a pretty serious back and forth between a large corporation trying to demolish a good chunk of the Great Marsh, first by acquiring it, then sabotaging protection efforts, and finally by actually setting fire to the marsh. At this point "The Duke" finally joins his team officially and helps a lot, Rai working through his issues with fire and losing people culminating in him getting help from literal sleeping giants to put it out.

Ranger Eddie wrestles with if he wants to stay a ranger and Minnie gets a new "Friend"

Everyone but Rai knows that Tia,Vea and Konani are members of Dragon Clans and they were the three mysterious women who danced at a cultural festival. They have also begun rising through the ranks of the Poke-Tri-Games and are in the top 5 teams, however there is a interjection by their Clans during a championship match which results in a Dragonic Challege, held by their customs. They fight for stay and break from their traditions.

Eventually Jo's past comes back to haunt her, but the rest of her rangers stick by her.

These are just some ideas, but I feel like there's a lot that will happen between all of this.

I'm always down for more suggestions or theories.

I am really loving this world built and I want to see where else it can go.