#Rodney was the one i just did not want to let go and the one i really wanted to read | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

glassprism · 2 months

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I'm asking this as someone who absolutely ADORES Lucy St. Louis as Christine, do you think Lucy would have been cast as Christine if Covid never happened?

Kelly Mathieson did say at the time that she was going to be leaving at the 2020 Cast Change, so we would have been getting a new Christine regardless

But, I have always had this feeling, due to the other circumstances that occurred in Phantom London at the time, that Lucy St. Louis' casting as Christine was a bit of a "Consolation Prize"/"Compensation?"

Am I alone in this mindset?

I think she would have been cast, but it would have been very different circumstances from how it happened in 2020.

For one thing, IMO COVID-19 and the subsequent shutdown provided a perfect excuse for CamMack and co. to shutter the original West End production and push in their modified version. So had COVID-19 not occurred, the original West End production might very well still be going, albeit with some changes regardless (I know that even before the shutdown, the Golden Angel had stopped working and the technology for it was too old for them to fix, so something might have changed there). So Lucy St Louis might very well have been cast as Christine, and there would probably still have been huge fanfare for her as the first black Christine in Phantom on West End if she was indeed the first, but it would have been as a replacement Christine, perhaps even an alternate, not as the original principal Christine of the West End revival.

But additionally... I do agree with you that Lucy St Louis's casting, right when it was announced that the original West End production had been shut down and they were opening a new, modified version... yeah, it was something of a diversionary marketing practice. I know some people don't like that argument, for understandable reasons, as it seems to downplay Lucy St Louis's considerable talents, her deserved fame now, and all the work it took her to get to where she is now.

But ignoring that most every actor gets where they are through a combination of talent, work, and plain good luck and connections (see, for an extreme example, Katie Knight Adams being cast as Christine because CamMack wanted her in the role), I also don't see this a a knock against Lucy St Louis at all. Rather, it's pointing out what should be obvious now: companies and corporations will use diversity as a marketing tactic. They will! They know it's something people want to see, they know it gives them "virtuous corporation" points or whatever you want to call it, and they know if they do it, people will sigh and go, "Okay, they did so-and-so sucky things, but on the other hand they are trying to be more inclusive and representative of minorities, so I guess they're okay..."

And I think that was exactly what CamMack and co. were doing here: "Okay, the phans are going to be mad at us for doing this, but what if we did this..." It's a case of being mad at the higher-ups for their cynical use of diversity as a marketing ploy and sop to fans, not to downgrade Lucy St Louis (who is also one of my favorite Christines!) or say she was "only" cast because she's black. None of this is on Lucy St Louis, it's on the people in charge of the show, and it just sucks because, just like the circumstances of the West End revival, it creates this pall on her casting which she does not deserve.

And yet... and yet... IMO had the COVID shutdown not happened, I don't think Lucy St Louis would have been cast in 2020; I think hers or similar casting would have occurred far, far later down the line, because as much as ALW and co. were talking a big talk about diversity, it sure wasn't happening that much in Phantom pre-COVID. (Like, whoo, we got Ali Ewoldt, Jordan Donica, and Rodney Ingram in 2016-2017, but do we get anyone else after? Nope. Oh boy, we got our first Asian Raoul in the West End in the year of our Lord 2019 and he's an understudy, let's celebrate guys.)

And I know this is all speculation, I don't know anything about this alternate timeline other than guesses... but it brings up that conundrum of what are we willing to accept. When is casting diversely okay? Is it all right even when it's being done to make money? Should we expect corporations to do it "out of the goodness of their heart"? When are the benefits of representation and helping minorities feel seen outweighed by the fact that this was done for purely marketing practices? It's something I think a lot of people are grappling with in this era. And I don't have an answer for you on that.

#GP gets asks #anonymous

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trainofcommand · 5 months

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Hi ily

I'm having thoughts of Lorne x Carson and since you're the Lorne expert I wanna know what your thoughts are

(feel free to ignore this)

OOoh, I love this, anon, and I'm super excited you asked (and super tickled that you think I'm a Lorne expert!!).

OK. Lorne and Carson. Hmmm. There's potential there! Carson getting all aflutter about some things, maybe that snark we sometimes saw that was also...anxious. Snarkily anxious? And Lorne would be like, "Uh, you sure you want to go there, Doc?" Because he has to deal with a lot of scientist snark, and he's seen where it can lead (bad places) sometimes, so he's just reminding Carson, but also be a little sarcastic himself (mmmm, love me some snarkily sarcastic competent Lorne). And that makes Carson look at him. With interest. In a surprised kind of way.

Or, or. Maybe it's Clone Carson. And it's awkward, sometimes, to be around people who watched you die, and were close friends, because they look at you sometimes, and it's a look that says they're startled, but happy, but sad and guilty, and missing something (someone) all at the same time, and it's just...awkward. So sometimes he wants to spend time with people who didn't know him the way Rodney did, or some of the medical staff. And one of those people is Lorne. Sure, they'd worked together, but not closely, and Lorne doesn't look at him expectantly, or forget that there are things - events, people, conversations - that he doesn't know because he wasn't there.

So sometimes they just kind of...exist together. Quietly. Maybe over a beer or whatever Carson can get his hands on. He learns about Lorne's painting, and he asks about things that he doesn't know, but that the original (and sometimes, he thinks to himself, the real) Carson knew/experienced. And it goes from there, little-by-little, both of them finding something in each other that they didn't expect.

Or, let's face it. It could just be some kind of dodgy 'I think this may be an aphrodisiac, Major' situation off-world, and Carson knew that going off-world again could get messed up, but right now he doesn't care, not at all, and Lorne's tac vest is already off, which is quite unusual, he can count on one hand the number of times he's seen Lorne without a tac vest, and Lorne is saying, "Better get those pants off, Doctor," and yes, yes, why are his pants even still on, that seems incredibly inefficient, he'll need to have a word with himself about it after, and possibly draft a memo, but right now, Lorne's shirt has come off, and my goodness.

In conclusion - Yes.

#carson beckett #major evan lorne #stargate atlantis

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td-yuri-takes · 2 months

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I LOVE SAMELLA...... read twinning with a twist and havent been the same since but they really do just work really well together if you think ab it. with both coming from bad family situations (only implied for ella tho i think) and needing everyone to like them all the time. sammy is really hurt that she's always painted in a bad light no matter how hard she tries to fix it, while ella doesnt realize how she comes across as annoying and that people dont really like her until sugar flat out tells her, and she starts spending so much time trying to get sugar to like her. its just interesting bc sammy feels defeated and ella is just determined to both be herself and be someone who everybody likes.(though, and this might just be pulling from twinning with a twist a lot, it does feel like she uses her princess fantasy as escapism. possibly partly bc shes Not oblivious i bet she realizes people dont like her that much, she just doesnt know what to do about it. if they dont like her when shes trying to be the perfect princess and polite and kind what is so bad about her that even if shes nice they dont want her?) sammy IS nice, and she doesnt hide it, but somehow ends up taking the fall for amy's behavior (even tho amy was outright awful to everyone?? this plot confused me so bad. but i guess scarlett and amy dont care, topher probably just doesnt care or Loves to stir the pot, max and rodney are probably too dense, and we know how jasmine reacted) and she has such a complex about it its Bad. i honestly love sammy i wish they treated her better. i think ella shouldve also had a last straw snap like sammy did, just absolutely go off on someone about why they dont like her. isnt she trying hard enough? whats wrong with her? and sammy might see that as inspiration and really admire ella for it, and spend more time together (without amy this is important.) then later maybe sammy asks ella for tips and she tells her that she seems like a really nice person !! and maybe likens sammy to a princess as well, because ella didnt have amy on her team influencing her perception of sammy. so that like shocks sammy and she realizes that if ella can do it she can, and if ella sees her as someone worthy just knowing Sammy, then maybe she is, and has worth on her own outside of amy. i love jasmine but i dont love the way she just lets it happen either. i think sammy believed jasmine when she said she was good, but couldnt help but feel like its only because she feels sorry for her, and not really based on her own merit because amy has never let sammy have anything for herself, not even her friendship with jasmine. so being on different teams from ella and still bonding could give them a chance to establish that connection without amy at all, which might make sammy feel more secure that ella truly means what shes saying. i think one of the conversations would happen after ella is voted off, and sammy would get mad, saying that ella was genuinely sweet and they couldnt see past the fact that she was also 'too weird', and then say her situation was similar in that they judge her on the surface of what amy tells them without ever trying to get to know her at all, and she tells amy shes done trying to compete with her. her worth shouldnt depend on whether amy or their mother thinks shes good. maybe this could also relate to ella's brief crush on dave, and how she feels betrayed by sky for being so excited when she was clearly upset about it when she thought they were friends, and she also realizes dave didnt fit the mold she wanted him to. i think sammy would comfort her after, and this shouldve been the start of ella accepting she cant spend her whole life in a fantasy or she wont make real connections. and later when they get together sammy might confess she worries about not being enough for ella, not being able to fit the princess life. but ella tells her that their relationship isnt a fantasy, its real. she wants to take it slow, and not put any expectations onto her. like, character growth. IDK sorry for the rant i just like them

this might just be my favorite thing

#td yuri takes #total drama #tdi #total drama island #td #total drama sammy #total drama ella #samella

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fuck-customers · 12 days

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I work corporate IT now, switched from customer service, but so many of the skills I learned in customer service are unfortunately useful. Like for people who have thick skulls.

A person was having a login issue yesterday. Those are pretty easy - usually they’re just entering in the wrong thing. But it was a phone call and we kept getting disconnected. And the disconnect kept happening before I knew which laptop she was using so i could remote into it. Finally we got a connection long enough to learn which laptop it was. I kept telling her “on the underside of the laptop there’s a label that says which laptop this is.” “But I can’t get into the laptop to tell you!” “Its on the bottom of the laptop!” “Oh, hang on.” Like i hadnt said “underside” several times. But I finally got which laptop it was before we got disconnected again. I’m trying to contact back while I can see her continue to enter in the wrong thing while trying to log in.

Finally, i use our remote access software to cut off her inputs and login to a shared account that we maintain for purposes such as this. I open notepad and leave a note, all the while i know she’s watching. “This is your username, the password you use is the same for your email, that’s all you need to enter. I’m going to turn your keyboard back on so you can login.” And did so.

She closed notepad and didn’t log out of the shared account. Went to go find her emails. There’s a message option with the remote software that I seldom use - it’s easy to ignore and I find notepad much easier. So I use the message option to say “this isn’t your account, none of your stuff is here.” I typed like four messages and she closed the window every time. Now, I’m the kind of person who won’t give you any more help than you ask for, and she was continually closing out my help, so I’m like “fine, deal with it yourself, if you need me you know where I am”, and closed my connection.

A short while later, she called back. “I’m logged in but my emails aren’t here.” Which. Yeah. I told you. You closed my messages. Which i say as politely as possible, but I can tell she’s getting irritated too. Which I get but that is not my fault. I say “Let me drive,” which is what we say to tell the user, “I’ve got this, I’ll show you.” She kept moving the mouse. “You’re not letting me drive, (name.)” With an annoyed tone she stopped doing things (possibly because I turned off user inputs again.) I went to the login screen, entered in her username. Had to reset her password which isn’t uncommon, and she set it back to what it was supposed to be. And we got in.

She then said “i don’t know how but I’m in.” Excuse me, you don’t know how? I walked you through everything i did in plain English. Flabbergasted, i said “that was me. I did that.” Never so glad to get an issue over with.

I would think by that point it's more about her being lonely and wanting to talk to someone than about her actually needing help to log in.

Unless she can't read. There was a guy I worked with at the depot of offices that said when he worked tech support in the 80's he was on the phone with a guy for his whole shift because they had to go over everything one letter at a time because the guy didn't know how to read. My co worker said he was getting frustrated because he thought the guy was being difficult purpose and once he understood what the issue was it went a lot easier.

-Rodney

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spurious · 7 months

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"I like your stupid face. It’s so stupid. It’s so… I like it. Can I touch it?"

You know what to do

(this came from that list of "drunken love confession" dialogue starters)

When Rodney's returned to the team after the Revered Scientists' Gathering (title case implied in the way every single person on the planet had spoken about it), he's flushed, pink tinging his nose, his cheeks, and the tips of his ears. He's smiling sloppily, listing slightly to one side as he walks on unsteady feet.

"Teyla," John says, in what he thinks is a pretty calm tone, actually, "did you know they were going to get him drunk?"

Teyla, who'd been smiling fondly at the sight of Rodney picking his way across the gravel path to where she, John, and Ronon are standing, schools her face into something more serious when she sees John's expression.

"Well, I have only heard rumors of what occurs at the Gathering," Teyla hedges, "but I do remember something about ceremonial libations…"

"He's gonna fall on his face," Ronon says, in a low grumble, before loping over to take Rodney by the arm, leading him back to them.

"Ronon! Hi!" Rodney's voice is loud, untempered by social mores or sobriety, and he looks up at Ronon with something akin to delight, which makes John smile, despite the fact that he'd resolved to be annoyed about this turn of events.

Ronon manages to wrangle Rodney over and into the back of the jumper, at which point he wriggles free and greets Teyla with similar exuberance. She takes it in stride, then gently guides him to sit down in the copilot's chair. Rodney tumbles down onto the seat, half-leaning on the arm and staring at John with the seriousness of the extremely intoxicated.

"Looks like you got into some hardcore science there, buddy," John teases, but Rodney just responds with a soft little smile.

"Oh, we did, we actually—" he shakes his head, which seems to make him a bit dizzy, and then blinks. "I'll tell you later, I'm—" He tilts his head to the side, the rest of his body following along, and squints at John. "God, I love your stupid face. It's so—it's so, I…I like it."

John freezes in place, and he thinks he hears Ronon snickering somewhere behind him. Rodney's still staring at him, blown-open and sincere, like he hasn't just insulted John while also making a declaration of—well, something.

Rodney seems to marshal his motor skills, half-leaning and half-listing toward John, his hand outstretched. "Can I…can I touch it?"

"Uh," John says, not breathing, his eyes locked on Rodney's approaching hand. "Sure."

Rodney's fingers press clumsily against John's jaw, and then his palm is cupping John's cheek as he smiles, even more lopsided than usual. "So stupid," he murmurs, feeling out John's cheekbone, nearly poking him in the eye. His thumb brushes over John's bottom lip and he tries not to shift, to give anything away.

"Rodney," John manages after what feels like an eternity, his voice strangled, "I'll let you touch my stupid face all you want once I've flown us back home, alright?"

Rodney's hand stills, his fingers hot across John's face, as he seems to give the proposition serious thought, before finally nodding, leaning back into a loose, drunken splay in his chair.

"Yes," he says, still failing to modulate his volume, "that's a good idea, I didn't want to kiss you in front of Ronon and Teyla, you know."

That time John definitely hears Ronon snickering, but he ignores it, firing up the jumper and focusing on making it home before Rodney says anything else about what he wants to do with John's face.

#getting a drabble prompt and writing 500 words because i cannot help myself #whoops #fic #mcshep

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the-soliloquies-of-sadists · 2 years

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#303

“Clay, we’ve known each other for what? Thirty something years since our college days? I stood up in all three of your weddings. I was there for you when your dad died. I helped you try to save what was left of your business. So, I am here for you if you need to talk about Muriel. The divorce not going well? Thought so. It was clear to Laurie and me when we invited you for dinner last month. You didn’t want to talk about it, but we knew. She went through your money hunh?... Yeah. Fucking cunt…. Oh the divorce is over? Good…. Oh she’s got the house?... Ah! So that’s why we are here looking at your new cabin in the woods. Gotcha! I thought it was for another reason. I thought you bought this place because you wanted a private location to shoot your Only Fans porno videos….

“Don’t look at me that way. I know. From what I could see, you have two accounts, DadsCumDumpCunt and DeepCleaningDadsCrack. Love the adherence to the same acronym. Now you may wear that hood to block your identity, but your pec tattoo told me everything.

“Stop with the panicking. I’m just surprised that not only are you a sperm burper but you are one hell of a pig. Damn, I watched some of your videos and thought, how could I have missed this side of you for all these years? I’m fucking pissed off at you! Not over being an ass-eating, gaping-cunt fag. No, I could have been raw dogging your cunt on our hunting trips or gotten my shithole spit cleaned after a night of drinking all these years? That’s right. Remember Rodney? I used to fuck him three times a week. I have been using fags since college pretty much nonstop. I can’t tell you how many boys I have kept and then tossed aside.

“So who is this dad from your videos? I know they are different men in each video, but who is the dad in the titles? Do you have a daddy on the side?... No?... This changes everything. You are no longer my best bud. You are a bitch to me from this point on. Sure we may socialize, but make no mistake who the man is right now. And right now, this man needs his shithole tongue fucked. Is your rimseat I’ve seen in the videos in the cabin? Good. We’ll be using that in a bit. Kneel behind me.

“Before I drop my pants, you need to know that I have been using faggots for decades. Having a nine-inch dick affords me the opportunity to abuse them beyond what they would normally do. You already knew that I’m a controlling asshole, but it’s even more so when I have a faggot groveling at my feet begging for my dick to split them in two. I ain’t changing being the asshole.

“Once you stick your tongue into my crack and taste the ass of a real man, the past thirty years will mean nothing. That is, you are agreeing to be my fag, my slave, my cunt, my toilet, my property. I don’t treat this as a roll play thing. I will control everything: your job, your new cabin, your Only Fans accounts—which I may or may not shut down, when you have sex, and so on. Once your tongue enters my ass, you will be mine. This is the only time I will give you to back out.

“Here’s the ass you will be worshiping for hours at a time just about every day. I knew I was going to confront you about your videos, so I prepared my ass for you to test out your crack deep cleaning service. Take a deep breath. Here let me blow you a kiss. Nasty hunh? This is the moment. Eat me or get out.

“Atta boy!... Fuck! Fuck! God damned you know what the fuck you are doing. Jesus Christ, why did it take 30 years for this moment? Give me a reach around. Feel how hard you got me.

“Having my ass eaten is my favorite thing to do, way more than fucking or getting sucked. Man! I can’t count the number of times that I used my big dick privilege and waived it in their faces just to get fags to do a lot more than licking my crack. I have learned throughout the years that they will do anything I demand just to get access to it.

“But you are just doing it because it’s in your core. I’ve seen your videos. You have this drive for tongue fucking; you are a natural ass eater through and through.

“I can’t take this anymore. Let’s get out of these clothes and go inside. I need to sit on that face for a few hours. Cunt, you have a lot to make up for all that lost time.”

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wherevenusholdssomeofficespace · 10 months

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So Doof in Milo Murphy's Law?

In general, I think Doof was as funny as he always was. He's just a disaster of a man with few social skills. He sometimes seems a bit more annoying or inconsiderate than he used to be, though I'm pretty sure the reason for this is Doof in Phineas and Ferb hardly interacts with anyone but Perry, who doesn't talk, mostly in his apartment where his behavior doesn't really bother anyone else. Doof DOES have a full fledged supporting cast so to speak (Vanessa, Norm, Charlene, Roger, OWCA, LOVE MUFFIN), but their interactions often just set up an episode or close out an episode. Not to say he doesn't have storylines where he interacts with other characters, and Norm is around often, but that's not where he spends his time. And those characters he does interact with are usually foiled to him in some notable way. I think the only human characters he interacts with for more than a few lines at a time with are Major Monogram (who is a "good" guy but a bit of an asshole, who has a natural chemistry than , Rodney, who often specifically riles Doof up, and Vanessa whose issues with her dad is central to many of her stories and has a lot of patience for him. And the kids on occasion, where I think we see many of the same problems of his Milo Murphy's Law presence. Where he's basically the kids peer and is often called out for his ridiculousness, and irritates a lot of people. There are characters Doof bounces off wonderfully and characters he just doesn't. Orton Mahson, yes. Sara, Not so much.

It's just that in MML, he's regularly interacting with people so his inability to function is affecting people beyond his immediate family. It's a bit less funny when he's actually interacting with people who don't deserve the problems he's causing. Or who aren't on some level, obligated to deal with it. His behavior is just constant Agent Doof/At2D behavior, but its now directed at characters who shouldn't have to put up with his nonsense. And it's also a little bit Doof is in a context different than the one we saw him than during PnF. He's not as certain about who he is. He's lacking a solid goal. Despite sounding like I'm complaining, I don't really mind all that so to speak. I mean, he was pretty good in the Phineas and Ferb effect in my opinion precisely because he had Orton Mahlson and Cavendish to bounce off of. Doof's still funny, he's still got heart. But I think it just makes the actual problem worse.

Which is that it split S2's focus. S1 heavily focused on Milo and friends, with the pistachio stuff mostly going on in the background until it became actually important. 2 plot lines (not unlike PnF). But Season 2 added a third arc in addition to the Alien arc that replaced the time travel arc, Doof's professor time arc. And while it paralleled Cavendish and Dakota's, it still took up time. I didn't really dislike any of it per se. But it was taking significant time away from Milo, and to a certain extent the dynamics we could have between Milo characters. I don't necessarily have a problem with the episodes, its just between Milo and Gang, Cavendish's escapades, Doof was just too much. We know (due to all the failed backdoor pilots in PnF S4), that they wanted to continue Doof's story. Between Doof 101 and the OWCA Files, they were clearly been thinking about a Doof who is figuring out how to be good for a while. And Doof, DID have room to grow. I do completely agree with giving Doof an arc. But ultimately Doof is a character who is far more funny when he's diluted by other shenanigans, or has good people to bounce off, and Milo's less erratic formula didn't dilute him too much. What I mean by that is we didn't have B (and C) plots the way we did in Phineas. I LOVE Doof, let me make that clear, he was always a delight, but I think I speak for most of us when I say I didn't love Doof enough to give up limited Milo time for him.

Phineas and Ferb had like 65 episodes in its first two seasons alone while Milo Murphy's Law had 40 episodes total. And Doof was a main character in at least 8 segments. Which may not sound like a lot, but half of those episodes didn't feature Milo. He also featured as a major character in several others. And unlike PnF where most segments were shared with the Flynn-Fletcher's escapades, when Doof gets a segment, he's often its sole focus. I genuinely think cutting down a few of the more repetitive Doof episodes or giving them Milo centric B-plots could have done a world of good. That said, I just don't care that much about Doof's middle aged drama compared to the kids shenanigans.

So ultimately I have extremely mixed feelings on it. I do love Doof. Him being professor time and Cavendish's hero, Cavenpuss, his role in helping the kids with the aliens. All great. But I admit. I don't watch the episodes featuring him nearly as much as I do the ones that are just about him and Perry's drama. I think it was something Dan and Swampy cared about. And I respect that. I get it. I could never hate it. But Milo and his friends are great characters who easily can carry half a show, and their extended cast are incredibly engaging. Between the rest of the Murphy family and the rest of the middle school there was plenty of story opportunities. Not to mention Melissa and Zack's families (we never meet Zack's younger siblings, despite their existence being confirmed). I think we all wanted to see something new.

I think none of the episodes featuring Doof were particularly bad but they all together did felt a bit repetitive when the unexplored potential of Milo was right there. I enjoyed Doof's presence in pretty much any episode where Milo and his friends also played a role, because his presence felt beneficial to the story. I liked Doof in the finale for example. But I also can't help but feel that I would have rather had characters like Amanda and Sara in it, characters who were a lot more relevant to Milo, even if Doof was a delight. But when Milo dipped out of an episode to focus on Doof that was a huge problem.

And usually I love episodes which let's us explore new dynamics. And let's make it clear, I like Adventure Buddies. But did we really need it. Maybe if Milo got another season. Because that seems like the exact kind of episode that would have come out of season 3 or 4 of Phineas and Ferb, when they had already worked through a lot of the more expected combinations and started experimenting with weirder stuff. That's when we started getting, all the AU versions of the gang, the episodes that shuffled up the cast and status quo in more unusual ways, and while those are some of my favorite episodes, I feel they only worked because of how much we already had.

There are definitely a few episodes I would cut, or at least would have demoted to B plots of some other episode. But ultimately, Doof's journey was clearly a story they so desperately wanted to tell, and he is, for the most part, a delight. I can't imagine cutting him out of Milo Season 2 altogether. It's such an important piece of Doof lore that I would hate to lose. But I mourn the loss of Milo (and Cavendish and Dakota) episodes even more. I really do have mixed feelings about it. And I can only hope that Milo & co make their way into the new PnF seasons.

#this is my opinion #a lot of this is VERY subjective #but at the very least #I don't think Doof was particularly ooc in Milo #we just had 0/minimal context for Doof in this kind of situation #and I think Milo Doof is very important when considering Doof #Milo Murphy's Law #mml #heinz doofenshmirtz #I genuinely think a lot of it could have been solved if Milo had more episodes in its first two seasons #So we had more time for weird side character episodes #But we didn't

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fraudulent-cheese · 14 days

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So i watched episodes 3 to 8 of Pahkitew Island

Again, watched these with my buddy @rockin-it-rusty! And, holy shit these episodes have got me genuinly wondering why Pahkitew's so hated.

I'll go over the negatives first; the challenges are kinda eh. The Truth or Scare one is great, and the cave one is interesting due to it's hints at the Fake Island reveal (as heavy handed as they were), but most of these were just pretty out there to me? They mostly felt like an excuse to put the characters in situations mostly. Just have Topher make a narration joke, give Max and Scarlett an interaction, have Sky and Dave dance around eachother all due to a thing the challenge made them do. I don't mind the first two much, but the last one gets super repetitive man. Glad they mixed it up a bit by making Shawn try to wingman Dave though, i like their friendship! im a bigger dashawn shipper now oops

ANYWAYS IMA TALK ABOUT THE CHARACTERS NOW BECAUSE LET'S BE HONEST, THE CHARACTERS CARRY THE SHOW!

Amy... Ok im very mixed on her. On one hand, she serves her role as the mean twin relatively well. But on the other, that's all she really is! Her one trait is being mean and hating her sister, and that's all she really does! Granted she has a thing? Where she gets sayings (?) wrong, or just gets words wrong (she says parfait is german. it's french. i would know) which! could hint at something! (maybe less smart than her sister?) but they don't do shit with her outside of her swimming back to the island in episode 5. god i wanna rewrite this season so badly now to give her a bigger role. idk shoutouts to Twinning with a Twist for redeeming her while still giving her some edge ig.

Rodney. i uh

I haven't thought about him since his elimination honestly. I just doooooon't care about him it's crazy. Most forgettable guy in the entire series.

Sammy! Ok back to the siblings rambles! I wish the show leaned into her scheming more. Girl in five episodes pulled identity theft and did nothing else. Why. Her relationship with Jasmine is adorable, and i wish she got Jasmine to call her by her actual name, and a personality too! It's really a shame man :(

Sidenote, but like her team fucking hated her for some reason??? Like what. I know it's because of that one scene, but really?

Ella!! My sweet girl Ella!!! She didn't do anything wrong man she just likes singing leave her alone!!! Chris really fucking hates her and it's pretty entertaining at least, but i'd say his beef with Topher's funnier. She has a nice singing voice, and i love how passionate she is about fairytales and stuff. You could do so much with the Prince thing and the show... didn't. Like what even was that. Conflict that wasn't one that lasts an episode. what

Gotta say though, her elimination was fucking ass, Max 100% should've been kicked instead of her.

Topher. Ah the opher. He's a special case, even in the context of Pahkitew Island itself! Because the dude's not here for the game. He's here to meet his idol, Chris Mclean (he really knows how to pick em, huh). I like the progression he's got, from wanting his approval to straight up wanting to host the game instead of him. I'll admit, my opinion's a little skewed since i am mutuals with the Topher guy on Tumblr, but i like him regardless!

His relationship with Chris is easily one of the more interesting parts of the season, mostly because a 30-something year old dude having beef with a teenage fan is hilarious, and you could definitely spin it in a sad way from Topher's perspective.

It also helps that he's genuinely funny! His few interactions with the other campers are also pretty fun, he dgaf about them it's great.

Im kind of mixed on Dave, i'll be real. On one hand, im glad they ditched the whole "he doesn't like anyone on this Island" trait three episodes in because that would've gotten. SO ANNOYING. SO FAST. (hell i'd argue it was already annoying), and him being a hopeless romantic could be a fun trait, if done right. It also helps that he's really pathetic and i find that funny. His friendship with Shawn's fun too!

But on the other hand... Yeah, even before the finale the Skave plotline's really boringgg. They just dance around eachother for half the season for like! No reason! Please just have a conversation, even if it takes other people to sit them down to have it! I know why they didn't because the finale needed them to not actually talk about it but at least have Sky tell him she'll explain later or have him not be a coward and ask her about it himself!!! ack!!

Also the thing with him and Ella went literally nowhere. I have 0 feelings about it because it's just there for some reason. Idk they just really wanted to shoehorn in romance for every girl this season huh.

Scarlett's a really underutilized character pre-Island reveal. The bulk of her interactions with the other campers are with Max, who has a ton of screentime for some reason (which i don't personally really mind but i'll explain later) which honestly sucks because she's a fun character! I want to compare her to Twilight Sparkle at the very start of MLP. She's smart, she knows it, she can communicate with her teammates just fine and just chooses not to usually. I like her alot! Im just... really disapointed that she's so in the background usually; if anyone's a wasted character in tdpi, outside of the Twins i'd say it's her.

Her legit wanting to kill Max is great though. That's how i'd react to him irl. Don't get the Max saying she had a crush on him three episodes in, or the quip Chris made during the team switching tho.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, MAX! I swear, i was convinced i'd find this guy annoying pre-watch but uh... I like this guy! No really, i do! He's like Mal, only the narrative doesn't take him seriously in the slightest and it's hilarious to watch! Im like Sugar in that one clip, i am laughing at this buffoon's intelligence, and his stupid catchphrase, and his "evil" plans, and his general delivery! Max is funny!

Even when the Scarlett "minion" thing kicked in i still found him funny! Don't get me wrong, i wish he'd gotten out earlier (ESPECIALLY when he was supposed to get kicked in the episode Ella got eliminated into) or just gotten less screentime in general, but in the season proper, yeah he's a funny guy! Big gimmick, but i like him! Please don't add nuance to him, i don't care

Jasmine... certaintly exists! I'd call her the Season's rock, the one character that's emotionally intelligent on the show. She's fun in general, and also the only one noticing things going wrong with the robotic island. As said before, her relationship with Sammy is great to see, and i wished we'd see more of her and Sky's friendship and uh. For there to be more between her and Shawn? Because the only things i've retained is that they blushed at eachother once and then trust issues party because he hit her once during a challenge and that completely broke her trust in him - which, could be an interesting aspect of her character to explore since if that's all it took for her to pull a 180 on Shawn, the girl must have a complicated relationship with trust. That's an interesting flaw! It also shows up with her rapport in Sky in the later episodes of this batch, and. GOD. I wish it was developped man!

The issue? Yeah it's dragged on so longggg man! It's frustating to watch frankly because i really wish they'd resolve this conflict quicker since it's like. The same thing every episode :( to my knowledge it's solved in episode 9, but it did NOT need to be dragged out for 4 episodes.

Unrelated to her charater, but her height difference with the other campers is kind of ridiculous. In some shots the characters look so small compared to her it's crazyyy

Ok, now. Sugar. I'll be honest? She's great! She's just a menace and doing her own thing and it's fun to watch! She's also interesting in terms of backstory since she's canonically a pageant queen; her relationship with Ella is greatly impacted by this, since she heavily suspects her of lying to her face when it's just. Ella being Ella. Similar thing to her opinion on Topher; she doesn't like him for his sucking up to Chris, the host (something that Rusty probably agrees with). I fucking wish she was more popular because then people would look into her more, but alas. She's a female, plus sized character in Pahkitew Island, so considering the Fandom's biases, it was never going to happen. U_U

OK TIME FOR ZOMBIE BOY. So, Shawn. He's definitely more present in these episodes than he was before, and, again, i think he's fun! He's a weird little guy. He's got interesting skills (his camouflage, legit parkour, general athleticism) and his personality's interesting as well compared to the other guys. The zombie thing is fine, actually, because they do different things with it over the course of these episodes. Not much to say about him, he's a solid character to me and i wish he had more interactions with the cast outside of Dave and his pining for Jasmine. Who he's talked to like, five times at this point? Again, they probably should've talked stuff out faster than this for me to actually enjoy it. Oh well.

And finally, Sky. She's an interesting case for me? She's fine, mostly. She's the Normal Person™️ of the cast to me, and that means she really struggles to grab me. It's made worse by her main plot being a basic romance plot where the gimmick is that she's a reasonable human being and Dave isn't. And neither are able to have a normal fucking conversation about it either. The mixed signals thing could've been interesting, but this is Fresh TV writters, so of course it didn't end up that way. I assume the episodes without Dave are the ones where her personality shines more? Because so far she's just been really reserved and calm. And said she'd "focus on the competition only" And then. Doesn't. Really. God i wish this season treated it's female characters better :(

OK SO OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Im mixed on alot of the character decisions

god i wished these people talked more

the screentime is not well split among the cast

the romance plots and pacing of the Island plot are the weakest parts of this season

the challenges are fine

Why does Chef have 5 lines total.

Pahkitew Island does NOT deserve the overly negative rep it gets in this Fandom, at least based on the first 8 episodes.

#cheese posting #string cheesing #td amy #td rodney #td sammy #td ella #td topher #td dave #td scarlett #td max #td jasmine #td sugar #td shawn #td sky #tdpi #total drama pahkitew island

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spikedsoul · 1 year

Text

maid's worst nightmare - ch 30

^^ y'all getting to a certain part of this chapter i'm sure. anyway, today's chapter is beefy, so we'll see if i can fit it all under the cut!

warning: some violence

previous chapters

@sovereign-of-succ

Bowser had stared after you for a solid five minutes after you left his room. It had taken that long of sitting in utter silence for his brain to start working again, and the first thing he did was make a beeline for his bathroom to stare at himself in the mirror. He sucked in a soft breath at what he saw.

There, sitting prominently and prettily on top of his nose, was a physical reminder of the kiss where your lipstick had come off. A perfect impression of your lips left for him to see and not just remember.

And you’d called it a date. You did, on your own. He'd made it very clear that it was just a nice lunch so that you didn't waste that pretty dress, but then after one glass of wine you felt okay enough to call it what he was secretly considering it: a date.

He was so in love.

Maybe he'd put off calling Peach for just a little while…

But first he had to get through today and part of tomorrow. And, since he wasn't exactly keen to advertise your affections to the world yet, that meant he'd have to wipe his nose off.

After a moment of thought, an idea came to him, and he grabbed a paper tissue from one of his drawers. Usually they were used for… something else… but now it would be used for something innocent!

He grinned to himself as he carefully dampened the tissue. Once it was to his liking, he gingerly pressed it against his nose for a few seconds before pulling it away. To his delight, it lifted most of the lipstick without smudging or smearing it, and he set the tissue aside to let it dry. Was it weird? Probably, but goddamn it he wanted to have a memento from this!

With that done and nothing else to do, he carefully undressed his suit, put it away, and pulled his shell on.

It was time to stalk his halls and make sure everything was alright. At the very least, it would help kill some time until you returned to the main castle.

He started down his kids’ hallway first in an attempt to check on them, since you’d said you hadn’t been able to see the boys, but he wasn’t too surprised to find no one in their rooms. Even Wendy had left. Oh well, he’d find them eventually. For now he’d just keep walking. And as he walked, he noticed that he didn’t have a single koopa coming up to him - that was a very good sign. It meant things were going well and he didn’t have to deal with any issues.

When he turned the corner, though, he saw Morton coming in from outside, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Morton," Bowser grunted.

"Oh, hey dad," the young koopa grinned.

"You look awful happy. What's up? How'd your meeting with Reese go?"

Morton puffed his chest out, a sign that he felt like he'd done something good. "She's gonna ref a race for us! And, and, I reconnected her with an old friend of hers, so she must be so excited! He was going on and on and on about how long it's been since they saw each other so I thought–"

Bowser immediately grabbed his son's snout and held it closed, his heart hammering in his chest. Surely Morton wasn't that stupid, right? This couldn't be happening.

"Yes or no, son," he growled, "was this guy from the Beanbean Kingdom?"

Morton blinked, but nodded, and Bowser immediately bolted for the door.

No, no! Fuck! With the amount of fear you had even talking about Rodney, he could only imagine what that foul creature must've been doing to you - and he hoped to the high heavens it wasn't what he was thinking.

The door shattered into timbers behind him as he practically flew toward the garage, already snarling. Maybe Rodney had enough sense not to try anything on someone else's turf? A slim chance, probably, but a chance nonetheless. Rodney was a knight, after all.

His stomach dropped the second he burst into the garage - he could already smell your fear, even from all the way across the garage. It felt like his blood was turning to sludge in his veins as his fear for you mounted during the few steps it took him to cross the floor space.

It wasn't until he was a step away from the door separating you from him that another, more terrifying smell hit his nose, and his nostrils flared in terror.

You were bleeding.

You were bleeding. He instinctively knew that was your blood he was smelling, and no sooner had the realization hit him than the anger deep inside him erupted like a volcano.

Bowser shoved his fists through the bricks on either side of the door frame, ripping the whole thing out of the wall, roaring in a sort of loathsome rage he'd never quite experienced before; the door and frame got tossed aside like they didn't weigh a thing. The smell of your blood hit him full force immediately.

His eyes landed on you first - you were cowering, curled into a ball, your clothes shredded on the floor. He saw the bit of blood on the floor near you, and even though you were curled up with your back to him, he could see a bruise forming on your side. To top it all off he could hear you sobbing, terrified.

His eyes flicked to Rodney next. He took in the defensive position, the raised sword - the disdainful sneer. But the sorry excuse for a human couldn't hide the smell of fear, not from the king of the koopas.

Now, Bowser had never cared to kill anyone before, but there was a first time for everything. He was just sorry that you'd have to witness the direct aftermath. Hopefully you'd forgive him because he wasn't about to even try to control himself. Not this time. Not when Rodney had so stupidly chosen not to wear his armor.

Without a word, he spat a small, molten ball of fire at Rodney; the man dodged, rolling away from you as the projectile seared the wall behind him. Perfect. When Rodney tried to immediately go back to you, Bowser spat another small projectile, wary of burning you despite his searing anger; this time, he rushed forward right after.

Rodney swung his sword, but Bowser caught the blade between the spikes of his wrist cuff and knocked the weapon away. The man predictably scrambled for it, allowing the king to place himself squarely between you and your abuser, his fangs bared and claws raised, a deep, threatening snarl ripping from his very being.

While it was a true fact that historically, Bowser didn't have the best track record for winning fights, it was also a fact that more often than not the fights didn't have real stakes to them.

This fight was not that way. It was literal life and death for you.

He wasn't about to lose.

"Why do you even care?" Rodney challenged, his sword once again raised. "You're a literal beast! She's just a pawn to you at best!"

Bowser hissed loudly. "Pawn or not, good people deserve to be protected from shits like you. I may be a beast but you're a monster."

Rodney scoffed, slowly trying to circle around him to get to you - but Bowser wasn't stupid. He kept himself firmly between you and the living embodiment of a shit stain.

"Good people? She's not good, she's pathetic!" Rodney spat. "Useless women don't deserve protection, especially not from monarchs! Fucking knew my cousin was hiding her!"

With you behind him, Bowser felt much better about utilizing his firepower: he inhaled deeply and let loose a fiery blast, but again the man dodged. This time, apparently feeling bold, Rodney lunged at Bowser, but again the king deflected the sword with his cuff.

"The only useless one here is you," Bowser snarled. He followed Rodney as the man scrambled for the sword, slamming a foot down on the flat of the blade before it could get picked up. "No one's gonna miss ya, fuckin' scum. At least shit helps plants grow, but all you do is take 'n hurt. Lemme do the universe a favor and put ya outta yer misery."

Rodney scooted back, just barely missing getting grabbed. “You won’t kill me! You’ve never killed anyone!” he shot back much too confidently.

The man tried to dart around the giant koopa, but Bowser was fast - Rodney let out a very satisfying cry of pain as Bowser’s claws sank into the soft flesh on Rodney's back. The king made sure he had a firm grip as he yanked the “man” back, yet another deep snarl escaping him.

“There’s a first time for everythin’,” Bowser hissed in Rodney’s ear. “What kinda knight doesn’t wear armor when plannin’ to assault someone on another man’s turf, huh? Fuckin’ idiot.”

“Please, don’t kill me,” Rodney begged, suddenly seeming to think being pitiful enough would save him.

The king could feel the warmth of Rodney’s blood starting to leak through the back of his uniform. It brought him a sick, twisted form of pleasure, knowing that soon the world would be rid of a terrible, horrible person, and that he would be the reason for it.

He growled as he forced Rodney to look at your form - you were still curled into a tight ball, bawling your poor eyes out as the fight took place. “Did this lovely woman beg ya to stop?”

Rodney nodded fervently, crying out when Bowser shook him by the back.

“And did you stop?”

This time, Rodney shook his head no. No, of course hearing you beg for some dignity didn’t change his mind. Why would it have?

By now, the smell of Rodney’s blood was significantly overpowering the smell of yours, but Bowser wasn’t sure if that was a positive or negative. He had to do something soon, and he didn’t really want you witnessing what he was about to do… but that would also mean having to leave you. It was an easy decision to make, honestly. He just didn’t want to get you all bloody after.

“Apologize to her. Now.”

“I-I’m s-s-sorry,” Rodney blubbered. You covered your head with your arms, still sobbing.

That renewed Bowser’s anger. It seemed Rodney had even made apologies traumatic for you. He flung Rodney back, ripping his claws out of that delicate flesh; Rodney hit the wall with a sharp cry of pain. The man caught himself on the wall, but the massive koopa was charging right at him without time to dodge.

Although this would end quicker than Bowser would’ve liked, you needed him badly and he couldn’t keep you waiting. He wouldn’t keep you waiting.

He put his head down at the last moment and barreled straight into Rodney. His momentum and weight sent them both crashing through the wall to the outside; Rodney’s head landed hard on the stony ground, but the cacophony from the broken bricks falling hid the loud cracking sound. The faintest, softest groan of pain reached Bowser’s ears, and without even thinking he opened his mouth and let a fireball loose right into the “man’s” face.

Rodney didn’t move again after that.

Bowser felt absolutely no shame or remorse about it as he practically scrambled up and hurried back over to you. Rodney would end up being more useful as food for the wild animals than he ever was as a human being.

Now all he had to do was get you out of there before the smell of burnt flesh wafted into the building.

“Sweetheart,” he cooed softly when he reached you; you were struggling to breathe evenly and flinched at his voice. He winced a bit, but knelt beside you, gently running the back of his hand over your upper arm. “Hey, hey… ‘m here. Lemme see what he done, okay?”

“Y-you’re gonna - ha-hate me–!” you choked out.

He slowly drew in a breath and let it out; the thing was already dead. All he had to do now was help you see that your worth hadn’t changed. Easy…

“Ain’t gonna hate ya. C’mon.” He put his free hand on your back, gently trying to roll you over to face him while sitting you up. A little surprisingly, you let him, gasping softly in pain.

Immediately, his heart felt heavy like it might implode - there was blood trickling from your nose and your lip, the bruises on your chest and neck already an unsettling dark purple. He could clearly make out the handprint Rodney had left around your throat. The smeared makeup really just was the horrible icing on top of the unsettling cake.

“Fuck,” he whispered. You turned your face away, but he gently turned it back with a single knuckle on your chin. Although you allowed it, you didn’t meet his gaze. “Look at me, darlin’... please?”

After a moment, you flicked your eyes up to his. He did the absolute best he could to make sure he conveyed with one look that he definitely didn’t hate you, and in fact cared about you quite a lot. Wait, would you be able to tell he loved you if he looked at you right? He hadn’t thought about that. Either way, you looked away again, but rewarded his effort by relaxing just slightly into his hands.

Okay. You responded best to gentle commands, it seemed, and still trusted him, so he needed to figure out how to get you back to his room without freaking you out. The good news was that your breathing was easing up already.

“Okay, sweetheart. I’m gonna take ya back to my room, meanin’ I gotta pick ya up. I’m gonna drape the dress over ya so you ain’t exposed like this, but if ya needa hide yer face, just tuck it against me.” Good, he was doing good using clear language, and he knew it would help you keep trusting him since he wasn't hiding anything.

Even so, he waited for the small nod of your head before he gathered you into his arms as carefully as he could. He grabbed the ruined dress next, carefully draping it over you. You adjusted it to your liking, making sure the only exposed parts of you were your head, shoulders, and lower legs - the rest of you would be wrapped in the dress and Bowser’s big arms.

The way you leaned your head against him, Bowser was sure you’d be able to hear his steadily-increasing heart rate, but he dutifully turned and began the trek back toward his room. Like he’d told you to, you buried your bloody, messed up face against his chest just before he took you into the main building. Damn it, even all fucked up you were still trusting your well-being with him…

He was careful about getting you through the hallways. Although he did his best not to make it seem like he was sneaking, he would slow down a little if he thought he heard someone in the next hall before turning the corner. Of course you didn’t say anything if you realized, but he hoped you didn’t. Luckily, it seemed like some deity was watching the two of you, because soon enough he was practically trotting up the grand staircase to his room and had his door closed behind him.

“Okay,” he said to himself, glancing around. This wasn’t any different than helping his kids after they got hurt, except for the fact that the love in his heart was most definitely not familial in the least. So what would he do first? His eyes landed on the door to the bathroom and he quickly ambled over to it. “Can ya stand, li’l lady?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” you whispered. At your confirmation, he carefully set you onto your feet. You immediately reached for a pack that had definitely not been there before he left and pulled out some wipes; he took that as his cue to give you a little space.

“I’ll getcha a shirt to borrow ‘til Kamek brings those other clothes,” he rumbled quietly. You just nodded, and he slipped out. Anything he had was definitely going to be too big - but maybe it would be alright while you recovered. It definitely hadn’t slipped his notice that the front of your underwear was torn, either, and if Kamek didn’t bring any undergarments he’d send a parakoopa out for some emergency supplies.

Luckily his underlings knew not to question any weird requests he had so he wouldn’t have to broadcast what happened to you.

He chuffed quietly to himself as he stepped into his closet. His eyes swept over the relatively few things he had; didn’t he have anything you could use a nightgown? Oh, wait, yes! Yes he did. He dug through the less worn clothes at the back and yanked out an incredibly old t-shirt he still had from when he was younger. Obviously, he couldn’t wear it anymore, but he hadn’t quite been able to give away the black cheep cheep shirt. Now it seemed almost like divine intervention that he’d kept it for so many years.

By the time he brought it back to you, you’d cleaned your face of all makeup and blood; you were just tossing the last wipe you used into the little bin he had. He held the shirt out to you when you looked over at him.

“Put this on and then I’m gonna inspect your nose,” he stated softly. Damn it, he could tell he was going to blush even though this wasn’t the time for it! But he had to make sure your nose wasn’t broken. He knew that fleshy noses didn’t always appear broken even if they were.

“Still have that wine?” you croaked as you gingerly pulled the shirt on. It went down to your knees, and he could see you relax a little as you were covered again.

His heart jumped in his chest - fuck, you were way too cute wearing his shirt.

“I do,” he nodded, cupping your cheek as he leaned in to get a better look at your nose. You closed your eyes and leaned your head into his hand. His tail tapped lightly against the doorframe while he struggled to focus, but finally he was satisfied. “Not broken… yer lip a li’l swollen, but it don’t look like ya need stitches or nothin’. How ‘bout we save that wine for a li’l later, hm?”

You nodded, then swallowed a bit. “Alright,” you managed to get out. You opened your eyes, looking up at him with a sudden weariness that he wasn’t at all surprised to see. “Then, a nap…?”

“Yeah, darlin’. Let yerself rest.” He put a hand on your back to gently guide you to the bed, and although you let him direct you, he noticed that you stuck close to him, practically glued to his side.

“Will you stay with me?”

Oh, fuck… how quickly he’d fallen and subsequently taken up the role you needed from him. Rather, you just straight needed him, and he was much too eager to oblige you… but he had a little business to make someone attend to first.

“Get comfy and I’ll come snuggle after I get someone to do somethin’,” he assured you. You nodded - obediently, he observed - and slowly crawled into his bed as he headed to his bedroom door.

It was a quick matter of flagging down a guard, ordering them to clean up the mess he’d left by the garage, and telling Kamek to hurry the fuck up with the goddamn clothes. No sooner had the red shelled koopa turned to go do as demanded than Bowser was back in his room, locking the door to make sure there weren’t any unwelcome guests. He shoved his shell off and left it where it fell; you were waiting for him.

The moment you saw him come back into the room, you reached a hand out to him - he had to stop himself from jumping into the bed. The tears welling in your eyes at least kept him a little grounded.

“I’m here, li’l lady,” he reassured you softly as he climbed under the covers. “Easy, I’m here. I gotcha.” He barely had time to settle before you were hiding against his chest, and a moment after he wrapped his arms around you, the tears fell again. He held you close, as close as he could to his warm body, and forced himself to start up a soft purr as you cried against him. It worked for his kids, so maybe it’d work for you.

When he moved a hand up to comb your hair, you reached up and caught it; it was a little surprising, but you hugged his hand to your chest instead.

“Sorry,” you said quietly, “my scalp just hurts still.”

He swallowed forcefully before asking, “He…?”

“Dragged me around by my hair.” Your eyes closed. After a moment, while he was struggling to keep himself cool, you brought his hand up to your face and rested your wet cheek against his knuckles.

Well that was a good way to extinguish his anger. But now he had to ask.

“Did he, um… p-penetrate?” And of course he stuttered - he was just terrified of the answer. You shook your head, though, and he couldn’t help his heavy sigh of relief as he gently wiped away your tears. “Good. Good… at least I was able to stop that. I’m sorry I wasn’t there sooner.”

Although you didn’t look at him, he could still see the corners of your mouth twitch upward just a little. “I’m just grateful you showed up at all. I really thought… I mean, I’m glad someone realized something was off. Thank you, big man…”

Bowser very nearly opened his mouth to say the words ‘just call me daddy’ but luckily his brain kicked in just in time to prevent him from doing exactly that. This wasn’t snuggling after a simple night terror; this wasn’t the time to be a total idiot, on purpose or otherwise. You were just seriously assaulted so he wanted to be mindful of that.

“Feels good to be a good guy,” he said instead, gazing down at you. “I’m sorry that happened at all, but I’m glad I was able to get to you.”

You opened your eyes and looked up at him - and you held his gentle gaze. “You are a good guy, Bows. I… I’ve got a lot of things to think about, but if there’s anything I’ve learned in the past few days it’s that I can trust you.” Your hand came up to gently pet his muzzle, but you winced and pulled your arm back after just a moment.

No doubt you hurt. Even that small attempt was enough to make him heave a contented sigh and for a warm smile to settle on his face. Hell, you were even still holding eye contact with him.

“Get some rest, sweetheart,” he cooed softly. Since he couldn’t run his fingers through your hair, he settled for gently stroking your face with a finger. Your eyes closed as you leaned into his touch.

“Wake me if you need to get up…?” you murmured.

He chuckled quietly. “Course,” he rumbled, feeling much better once you quieted and settled more comfortably against him.

Bowser couldn’t lie: despite what had happened to you, he was incredibly happy to see just how badly you needed and trusted him. You hesitated, yes, but that was understandable - you still let him touch your mostly naked body, leaned your head into his hand, and all but demanded cuddles. And, as flustered as he naturally would be, his desire to make you feel safe was absolutely overpowering everything else so nothing was getting too awkward in this terrible time for you.

His purring started to come more easily and more naturally the longer he thought about it, and you were understandably so worn out that your breathing evened out after a few more minutes.

Maybe, just maybe, you loved him too…? Even if you didn’t realize it yet. And if not, well, he was going to do everything in his power to win your heart. There was a lot of emotional work to do, for both of you, but he wanted to put the work in - and hopefully so did you.

#bowser #bowser x reader #bowser x y/n #super mario bros #fanfic #fanfiction

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massharp1971 · 11 months

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gimme the......untitled! trauma! fic!

I'm not sure this one will ever see the light of day because it's really, really angsty as it charts John and Rodney's respective ptsd experiences (imagine if these were real people, how completely traumatised they'd be). So I'm going to share a bit more than a snippet from the beginning, because I kinda like this bit... ---

John never slept heavily, so he was out of bed and opening his door within a beat of the chime.

There was Rodney McKay, looking rumpled and troubled.

But alive, his skipping heart told him. When John had seen Rodney’s prone figure on the floor of the gate room it had ignited an entirely unfamiliar kind of terror. The whole incident had given him layer upon layer of freak-out because number one, the cowardly lion of an astrophysicist was clearly susceptible to acts of ridiculous and life-threatening bravery and that meant it would be that much harder to keep him safe. Number two, it seemed just a little weird that John was more scared today than he had been not two weeks before when he had mercy-killed his commanding officer and been forced to his knees by a life sucking monster. Number three, and probably related somehow, was the weirdest thing of all – he had made a friend, and potentially a good one, and that wasn’t something John did often.

Well, ever.

Something about Rodney’s very existence gave John a feeling of overwhelming… relief, recognition, rightness… it was hard to look at too closely but impossible not to notice. Which meant that John very much did not want Rodney to die horribly.

“Can I…” Rodney waved his hands in the direction of entry, and John stepped aside, letting the man into his quarters.

“Sure, Rodney,” John said. “Something wrong?”

“Would it be… appropriate, for me to talk to you about… you see, I’ve learnt the hard way…” Rodney looked a little pale and sweaty, and John felt a stab of concern.

“Rodney, sit.” He gestured to the bed, and hunkered down beside it, feeling a little too self-conscious to sit next to the scientist. “You can tell me anything you need to,” John said, hoping he hadn’t just invited some kind of wildly inappropriate middle of the night conversation.

“I made a mistake, at the SGC,” Rodney said, his eyes refusing to meet John’s, his hands in constant motion that almost hid the underlying tremor. “I should have got support. Not everyone is… later, I spoke to a therapist and, well he pointed out to me that it wasn’t really that unreasonable of me to be terrified. So, I will speak to Heightmeyer of course, but I think it would be good if I spoke to you too and reminded you…”

Rodney hadn’t been looking at John, but suddenly his fearful eyes lifted. Their startling blue was intensified by the slight moisture there, and John had the ridiculous urge to surge forward and put his arms around Rodney’s broad shoulders.

“Reminded me of what?” John said gently, resting his hand reassuringly on Rodney’s kneecap in lieu of an embrace he didn’t dare risk.

“That I’m not a soldier… I haven’t been trained to deal with life or death.” He looked panicked and uncertain.

“Rodney, breathe,” John told the scientist. “Slow down. I don’t know what you’re trying to say here, but nobody expects you to be a soldier.”

“Look, most boys at least learn the basics, right? But I was never taught to fight – there wasn’t any point, because I moved up the grades so fast and the boys were so much bigger than me and they could do what they wanted,” Rodney suppressed a shudder that matched anything a wraith queen could cause, and John wondered what it had been like for young Rodney. He felt suddenly protective. “Fighting back would have just got me hurt more. My life lesson was to run and to hide and to avoid and to listen to my fear.”

John winced in sympathy. He’d been a weedy kid until he hit late teens and soft enough that his queerness was assumed and attacked.

“And now here I am being taught to use a gun and I’m expected to be brave and I’m not. Not everyone is cut out to be a hero.” Rodney lifted his chin in that tell he had. John already knew him well enough to know it meant he was unsure of himself. “I don’t think I can choose to be something I’m not and I’m going to let you down if you expect me to be… like SG1 expected, took it for granted that I wouldn’t be afraid of accidentally blowing up the whole fucking mountain to save their teammate.”

“Whoa, wait, McKay… you are brave,” John couldn’t bear to hear him talking this way after what he’d done only hours before. “You were so brave today, when you walked into that thing...”

“No, I wasn’t. I was terrified, and I ran every calculation possible in my head and it was the only answer that would save all our collective asses. I was smart. There’s a difference.”

“No, I’m not buying that,” John said firmly. “I know what it’s like to be so scared that it takes a while to get your body to move in the direction you know it has to go. Knowing the right thing and doing it are not the same.”

“Major, with respect… nearly everyone around here but me and you is SGC stock. They’ve been given unreasonable expectations by the culture there. The civilian member of SG1 not only had a death wish from the moment his wife was taken, but also, he’s died more than once and recovered from it. People’s perceptions here are skewed and… Major, none of my scientists are replaceable,” Rodney was talking nineteen to the dozen, but John just held on and tried to keep up. “I can’t just recruit new people if something happens… I’m scared. Not just for me, for all the people I’m responsible for. We’re civilians. We’re here to do science. But I think the SGC folk expect us… what I did today. Assume that’s part of the job. That we would have any idea how to be heroes… as if we knew we’d be coming somewhere with monsters and…”

McKay was babbling and John realised the man was very pale. The sheen of sweat was more pronounced, and his hands were trembling more obviously.

“Hey, you don’t look so good, Rodney,” John said, worried about his friend. “I think this might be delayed shock. Let’s get your feet elevated…”

He pushed Rodney back onto the bed and put his pack under Rodney’s feet. Rodney’s eyes were suddenly lost and vague.

“I’m going to call Carson,” John said.

He already knew McKay was reputed to be a hypochondriac, so he was surprised when the man shook his head.

“No, don’ s’not… shug. Gimme sugar,” Rodney slurred.

John kept dextrose tablets in his emergency kit, so he pulled two out and gave them to Rodney. He remembered Rodney saying he had hypoglycaemia, but in all honesty, he hadn’t expected it to look like this. He’d kind of expected it to look like an excuse to eat chocolate.

Rodney closed his eyes. John was still debating whether to get Carson when the trembling began to lessen.

“Fuck,” was what came out of McKay’s mouth eventually. Rodney didn’t often swear, and it was somehow reassuring. “Sorry. I, er… may have been a little vomity before I came over… should’ve known it would mess with my blood sugar.”

“Rodney, like you said, you’re a civilian finding himself in an unimaginable situation. Nobody expects you to just take it all in your stride.” John fished out a power bar from his bedside table and handed it to him as he said this.

Rodney huffed, something like a laugh but without any humour attached. But he accepted the bar with a look of gratitude.

“Are you sure about that, Major?” he asked around the first mouthful.

John knew what Rodney meant about the SGC folk – they were damn weird in the way they saw things, like they’d just stepped out of some adventure book where wild things happen, but the day is always saved.

John was already facing the fact that this was no storybook, and they were going to lose people – important people. Like the goddamn man who actually knew how to command a bunch of Marines. And the truth was, he was crapping himself over the situation they found themselves in, and still coming to terms with the fact that he made things a million times worse by trying to stage a rescue and waking the wraith.

John tried not to think of those first few days too much, because he was liable to crawl out of his own skin when he did.

“I’ll protect you. All of you,” he said, because he thought that was what was expected, but much as he desperately wanted it to be true, he knew this wasn’t a storybook. His heart clenched painfully at the thought of something happening to Rodney.

“Dumbass,” Rodney said in between still slightly panicky breaths. “Go read the SGC reports and then come back and tell me who usually saves who. Spoilers: It’s science. It’s always science… still, I appreciate the thought. I believe you want that to be true.”

“Well, all I can say is I’ll do what it takes to have your back, then,” John said.

That response seemed to satisfy McKay. John also noticed his colour was returning, and he was less clammy.

“Can I just rest here a while?” Rodney said, his voice small and vulnerable. “It’s all been rather a lot.”

“Sure,” John said.

He looked down at Rodney’s slowly settling form and wanted to be tender, wanted to brush a hand down his cheek or stroke his brow, but real men didn’t do that – military men definitely didn’t do that. John tried to at least pass for what he was supposed to be. Not just a real man (whatever the hell one of those was) but the man.

Instead, he retrieved his pack and rolled out the bedroll next to his bed.

The first time he’d met Rodney McKay, the man had been larger-than-life, bundled up in an orange fleece that clashed with his startling blue eyes, so excited by John’s gene that he’d launched straight into the middle of their relationship before bothering with a beginning and it had been like that ever since.

They clicked. The man could be an ass, sure but John knew he was goodhearted, and soft in ways that John appreciated in this harsh reality. He realised his growing fondness for Rodney didn’t map onto what he was used to. For a start, Rodney didn’t seem to want to fuck John and that was the only kind of closeness with men that John was familiar with.

“Oh…I can’t let you sleep on the floor in your own room,” Rodney said. “I’ll go…”

“No, you won’t,” John said, making a split-second decision. “Shove over.”

He got into a position with Rodney that was just short of being big spoon, finding himself longing to press close and surprised to find McKay pressing back against him. He tensed, unsure what to do, even though he could tell Rodney wasn’t coming onto him.

“Don’t worry, your virtue is safe, Major,” Rodney muttered.

“Not sure I have any of that,” John retorted. If only McKay knew. “But for the record, so is yours.”

He let his body relax against Rodney’s, finding himself both mystified and enticed by the closeness. He momentarily let go of all the tension he was carrying and drifted into sleep.

#mcshep #sorta #sga #cw trauma #hypoglycemia #toxic masculinity at the sgc

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