#UM. I GUESS I'M PUTTING THIS IN THE MAIN TAGS?

[r0semultiverse]

Mr. 6 made you do a good show to be released?? 👀 um....

This is already giving serious eye vibes.

A whole show dedicated to public humiliation?

The Mr. Bonzo suit started moving??? 👀 Serious stranger vibes. 🤡

"It actually became a sort of ritual"

I've seen people being like "don't cross tag" but buddy... the writing cross tags itself here I mean c'mon! 😂 Something something ritual of the stranger- okay, I'll keep listening!

Hey, what's with the music?? Hey, who is Terrance Menki???👀

"The police said there were eleven bodies in total and his wardrobe was full of all sorts of homemade costumes." BRO IS ACTUALLY MAGNUSPOD WILLIAM AFTON-

"It certainly had a profound effect on the Mr. Bonzo brand." Oh I'm sure it did, holy fucking shit. 👀

Oh, me using this image is rather ironic now.

"In a lot of ways I’m more his prisoner now than I ever was on my show." WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT? 👀

"The witness statements from three murders over the last five years that claim a person in a Mr. Bonzo costume was at the scene? Do you think there could be a copycat?" Has the fear of clowns manifested as an actual clown-guything?

"Don’t contact us again." "Us?" "Why am I still trapped dealing with all this this- Why won’t he let me go?! Why-" So Mr. Bonzo is absolutely a clown cryptid of sorts with some sort of hold over Nigel.

Oh no, Gwen's about to fuck around & find out, isn't she? 👀

Hey, is Colin still himself & is he supposed to be back?

Hmm, okay, I guess that's him (hopefully).

"Maybe don’t tell them I’ve been on their terminals. They’ll only get the wrong idea." "If Lena asks, I wasn’t here." Seems like everyone's got their own little secret investigations going on, fun! This can only go well! 🙃

One of the episodes absolutely no one shows up to work except Lena is there & is like "where the fuck did everyone go?"

"Time to get some new hires again I guess."

Let's go!! Ruin exploration gang!!

"Like, it’s Saturday night and I’m choosing to hang out in a hole with you. A wet hole. And not the good kind either."

Alice with the absolute best quotes. lmao

That sounds like something with giant wings like a bat or some sort of cloth flapping in the wind. Let's hope it's the latter!

Oh a rusty old filing cabinet! Wait tetanus- 😭

"That carved floor in the big atrium – I don’t know what’s going on with that." Ah so we're just gonna breeze past that then. 😶

These are probably the remnants of old avatar creation test areas like mentioned in the Gerry & Gertrude episode. I'm just assuming here.

A key? Big find! Let's go!

AS I WAS SAYING-

Gwen, it was nice knowing you. 🫡

"Now get out of his house."

Archivist! 👁👄👁

"symbols of ancient otherworldly power"

Wait could this be a timeline where this universe's Jane Prentiss actually did manage to invade the building & succeed? I'm thinking out loud.

21:10 that sounds like critters, insects specifically 👀

"I have memories of weird stuff I saw here, but no context. I want to know what was happening, why they chose us… why they didn’t choose me. Maybe find the bit where everything started to go wrong." I am so captivated & intrigued please recount said memories to us- I mean Alice so we can learn more. Please. 👀

EXCUSE ME, WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT?!? WHO IS "[ERROR]?"

WHY DO THEY SOUND DISTORTED AS FUCK?? ARE THEY FROM THE PRIME TIMELINE OR IS THIS A NEW THING?

ARE WE GAZING OUR EYES UPON A WRETCHED THING FROM THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES?!

edit:

Is Lucia Wright an avatar of The Flesh now (in this universe or from the original timeline somehow)? Because it sure fucking sounds like it! 👀 Well, at least that key was put to good use! 😂

Also, supposedly Mr. Bonzo is a reference to Mr. Blobby.

Gwen, I'd be quaking in my boots too. That thing is terrifying!

Late observation but this universe & story seems to focus a lot on the cryptids & I like the direction it's going in! Loving this plot of cryptid hunters, childhood avatar experiments, a strange institute where our main character has past trauma, & just all of it is so good! 💜

Amazing episode, 10/10, I was at the edge of my seat the entire time! 💜 That Bonzo scene & the sound design were absolutely horrifying, thank you! The ending too! 🔥

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

this was quite a while ago so my memory is hazy but it still sort of bothers me, so

AITA for making a quick comment about a ship dynamic(???) i didn't like in the ship tag?

before you jump on my ass, this isn't pro/anti stuff. literally just a matter of preference.

not going to mention the specific characters or media in question for pure anonymity's sake. i'm just going to assign arbitrary names to the characters in question for readability. let's say Albert and Bartholomew, or something. and the ship name can be Fucking BartBert I Guess.

"Bartholomew" had a traumatic experience in his childhood that had a very large impact on his mental state, let's say. as a fan of. um. "bartbert". i had noticed a trend in fan works of this ship depicting an AU version of Bartholomew that had never had this traumatic event happen to him. not that there's anything wrong with that, really. i just found it sort of strange and i was more interested in the canon character, additionally i found it sort of comforting to think that Bartholomew was worthy of love scars and all, so to speak. so i made a short post in the tag expressing pretty much that. along the lines of "why is there so much fanart like this? can't he be loved the way he is?" or something like that, and tagged it as bartbert because i wanted to see other people's thoughts on it. in retrospect it could've been read as dismissive or inflammatory i suppose but i really didn't mean it like that. i was just a little bit annoyed and confused by it.

fast forward a little while and this person comes into my notes saying something along the lines of "for some reason i can't reblog this on my main, but it's because people have been nice enough to make fanart of the AU that i made." i didn't think i knew this person at all, so i essentially just responded trying to assure them that i don't know them and wasn't trying to attack their art or them personally or anything.

i'm not sure exactly what happened after that because it's been like 2 years but in essence, i had actually blocked their main a few months before, because they had been posting about that AU and i didn't like it, so i just blocked and moved on like i usually do with stuff like that because i didn't want to see it in the tags. i probably didn't even realize at the time that they were the creator of the AU. but this person pointed out that i had their main blocked as like, evidence that that post i had made was a personal attack against them, or something like that?? of course i didn't mean it in that way, i had just blocked their main months ago and forgotten about it, and i wasn't even really trying to be rude but they blocked me before i could try to explain myself.

i remember this whole thing pretty vividly because i was at the zoo with my family that day and feeling like i was being accused of something i didn't do, or being called mean or being picked on by someone with a much larger following than me presumably, just for making a single post the night before was really stressing me out on what was supposed to be a fun day. in addition i ended up leaving the fanbase for the work in question entirely pretty soon after because i didn't want people to think i was weird or mean. it's sort of colored my recollection of the work in general, which sucks because i do still really like it.

in retrospect i'm honestly not sure if what i did was wrong or not. i suppose i shouldn't have put negativity in the tag but also i feel like you should be allowed to express negative opinions the same as positive ones, right? as long as you aren't being a jackass about it. although at the same time i can sort of see their perspective because i think if i saw a post like that about something i had made i might've jumped straight to being defensive about it, too...

but anyways it's one of those memories that creeps up on me while i'm trying to go to sleep, so,

was i the asshole?

What are these acronyms?

[the-ellia-west]

Oc Questionnaire

Tagged by @agirlandherquill Thank youuu!!!

My Questions:

What is your favourite type of weapon?

Who is your favourite person?

Why should you be trusted?

I'll be using my POV Characters and Their Main Secondary for this!

-----------------------------------------------------------

What is your favourite type of weapon?

Marril - "Steel Throwing Cards. But Daggers come as a close second, swords after that."

Shyre - "I prefer not having to use weapons... but If I have to, I like crossbows."

Kasi - "Knives. I'm not sure how to use anything else."

Chrin - "Uh... Sword?"

Viasaki - "A Very large knife. It's easy to use and better than my claws."

Kila - "My claws. It's easier to do it with my bare hands. What better way to get something done than to do it yourself?"

Geon - "I'd use a spear or a torch if I could, they're safer for me. But I know how to use a sword. Even if I can't see what I'm targeting..."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Who is your favourite person?

Marril - "Quin." [His pet Raven]

Shyre - "Probably My Dad!"

Kasi - "Xhaazi. He's my twin brother, what am I supposed to say?"

Chrin - "My Mom."

Viasaki - "Eryss." [His mother figure]

Kila - "Tias."

Geon - "Damian! He's always there for me!"

-----------------------------------------------------------

Why should you be trusted?

Marril - "Ha! I shouldn't."

Shyre - "Because I have a reputation that is trustworthy. If you need proof please ask them."

Kasi - "Because Unlike some people I know what I'm doing."

Chrin - "Because I want to help!"

Viasaki - "..."

Kila - "Because If you put me in a good mood I won't murder you."

Geon - "Um... here's no real good reason? I guess I'm a prince, but that's not a good reason to trust me?"

@phoenixradiant @smudged-red-ink @aestheic-writer18 I'm @ing myself @jakkon-and-rose-topic and anyone else who wants to!

Your Questions are:

What is your favorite color and What does it remind you of?

What's your favorite thing to do?

What do you live for?

(4. Bonus: What's your favorite thing on earth, not person, but object, food, weather, ect.)

-------------------------------------- Hey there! Hi! You! Tumblr user!

Are you a fan of epic fantasy? Want a story with romance, action, and sassy heroes and villains? How about some good old-fashioned ANGST?

If so, you're in luck! I've got just the series! Come check out TCOT!

Take a quick look at this post if you're interested

And keep an eye on my blog for updates!

---------------------------------------

[the-one-and-only-043]

Hello, I'm Agent Phoenix, formerly known as Agent 043.

Roxy told me I should make a blog, so here I am. I guess I should put some stuff about me here? I don't know how this site works

Uhhh

Well, I'm 38, I'll be 39 in November, and I like cats. And Roxana, of course. She's like, the coolest ever, and also my girlfriend :)

I think I'm kinda sorta like a step...parent??? To Right and Robutler??? Idk I'll ask Roxy about that tho

I use any pronouns, so get creative

My first handler was a piece of shit, so feel free to talk shit with me haha

Same with Agent Slimeball Sliver. He's a ball of eugh.

Roxy says I should put some boundaries, like stuff I don't like to talk about, so, um. Here you go, I guess.

I don't like talking about my past with Zoraxis in detail, so try to refrain from asking about that. Same with how Handler 043 treated me. Don't be a dick about my scars. The basics, don't be a homophobe, or a racist, or a creep here. I am a liberal user of the block button, and if necessary, I'll report you. Don't be a shithead in general.

Uh

Idk what else to put here so bye

______________END TRANSMISSION______________

Hello! Leo here, this blog's moderator and the power behind the throne, so to speak. This is a side blog for my main, @eight-cats-in-a-box, purely for IEYTD and 043! Phoenix!

043 is besties with Reggie!! Their handler is one of the ones closest to their cold, dead heart. :) He's also just recently started dating John Juniper!

043 is dating Roxana! 043 loves the scientist very dearly, and they're quite attached to her. They have a very healthy relationship, and they're planning to propose soon, aided by none other than...

043 is also the parental/fraternal figure to several agents, including ones in alternate dimensions, as well as Prism's kids! Right Robot and Robutler both think they're pretty neat, and their rookies have never been safer :)

Their murder bestie, John Juniper! He owes being alive today to Phoenix, who dragged him out of the wreckage after Operation: Rising Phoenix. These two are very protective of each other, despite constantly fighting. They've also hooked up before Codename: Agent Clover. Recently, his romantic feelings for Reginald came to light, and they've been in a relationship ever since!

Other notable figures are:

Agent Knockout and his husband, Breakdown! Also known as Damien and Jack Woodworth, this dynamic duo are infamous for their brains-and-brawn mindset. Quite literally, since Breakdown doesn't have a TK implant due to the complications it would cause.

Chief Medical Officer/Lead Field Medic, Doctor Robert "Ratchet" Greaves. Also known as the Hatchet, Greaves is sick of it. 043's nonsense, but also the bullshit the rest of the Agency puts him through. Grouch with a heart of gold. Married to Drift.

Field Medic Support Agent Drift! A very long title indeed, one created to keep him by Robert's side. No one knows his real name- not even Drift himself. Married to Robert.

TAGS

#043 rambles

Talk tag! Inchar posts, chats, etc

#043 reblogs

Self-explanatory

#043 lore

Phoenix lore!!!

#043 family unit

Specific to those Phoenix has "adopted"

#043 answers

Self-explanatory

#043 flashbacks

RP tag!

#Agent Duo Knockdown

Anything pertaining to Agents Knockout and/or Breakdown!

#CMO Dr. Robert Greaves

Anything about 043's favourite grouch :)

#Support Agent Drift

Anything about the infamous ex-Zoraxis Operative Drift. Most know him better as Greaves's husband :)

[autumnsnuggling]

20 questions for fic writers!

Thanks for the tag @maesterchill! I haven't done something like this in so long lol.

I took a leaf from your book and put my answers under the cut :D

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Somehow I have 103 lol. Most of them drabbles, but a few mid-length fics.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

170,290. Told you lots of them are drabbles lol.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry Potter!! And 99% of them are Drarry lol

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. It Began with a Royal Sticky Mess - 5.5k, T, too many adjectives lol. 2. The Boy Who Lived (To Not Be a Boy) - 26k, T, the long fic I'm probably proudest of. 3. Healing Scars - 2.2k, T, heed the warnings but I enjoyed writing it lol. 4. Then Time Stood Still - 4.2k, T, sequel to It Began with a Royal Sticky Mess, still too many adjectives lol. 5. Worth It - 8.7k, T, my last TransFest Fic, also super proud of it!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try, but I have failed epically for the last year or so lol. I always want to because I feel like it is so nice to hear back from authors, and because I want people to know how much I appreciate their comments, but I struggle to because life is busy and I find it a little draining, tbh

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ooh, good question. Um, probably He Didn't Know (270 words, T). It's from my early writing days so the style isn't great, but it's definitely angsty lol.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

God, somehow that's even harder. Um... okay, having reviewed my fics, the funny thing is, many of them don't have what I would consider to be 'happy' endings lol. I do lots of endings where the angst is resolved and they're comforted, but I wouldn't call it happy lol. It's because I'm a real sucker for showing life often continues so more is out to be resolved. That means that the main happy ending fic I have is The Boy Who Lived (To Not Be a Boy).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully, no!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I am dabbling in it, but it's definitely not my comfort zone. I currently have 1 explicit fic, and 4 mature lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Absolutely not lol. I haven't ever really been interested in crossovers, or been passionate about another fandom to want one.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! A few, actually. It's always such an honour.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Definitely! @stargazing-enby and I have written a few, and I got to trade WIPs with a few others, which has always been fun and really helpful!

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

No points for guessing lol.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I am yet to give up on ANY of mine lol

16. What are your writing strengths?

Um? Coming up with ideas? I have no idea lol

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Uuuhhhh... Genuinely feel this changes lol. Though I suppose a theme that's come up is figuring out how to translate the story into words...

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't think I have thoughts on it lol. I love the idea to provide diversity and depth to character, though!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Stealing Maester's answer as it's the same lol Harry Potter. First and only!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

A lot of my favourites have already been mentioned, but I really like Another Way! (1.1k, T)

Thanks so much for the tag, I don't know who's done this, but I'll tag @stargazing-enby, @ununquadius, and @nv-md (no pressure).

[dees-writing-corner]

three calls answered; one call missed - missed call

pairings: wooyoung x fem!reader; ? x fem!reader

genre: fluff

warning: none(?) i think, maybe a tiny bit of swearing?

word count: 2185

a/n last part's here! after a small delay, it's finally here @sssnowe thought I'd tag you, sorry for the long wait <3

main masterlist

part 3

"Okay."  

Putting the last piece of clothing into the suitcase, I zipped it up and handed it to San.  

"Could you put that in the boot for me, please? Thank you."  

"You've got everything, right?"  

Turning to Yeosang, who was perched on the side of my bed, “Yes, I’ve got everything. Plus, if I miss anything off, I could just buy it over there.”  

"Good. Still can't believe that you'll be oceans away from us soon." 

"Don't be so dramatic, it's not like we won't be talking every day." 

Standing up, Yeosang and I made our way to the car.  

“Ready to go?”  

San slammed the boot shut before making his way to the passenger side of the car and opening the door.  

"M'lady, your chariot awaits."  

Grinning, I slid into the seat, "Thank you, kind sir."  

San shut the door and made his way to the driver's side, leaving Yeosang standing there watching us and shaking his head as he made his way into th back seat.  

"Please remind me why I'm friends with two nerds?"  

"Yeosang, darling," I turned my body so that I was facing him, "You're as much a nerd as us. If memory serves me correctly, we just had a Harry Potter marathon the other day. That you requested."  

Yeosang simply crossed his arms and looked out the window, "Fine, but you two really are nerds of a higher degree."  

Laughing, I turned back around and put my seatbelt on, watching as San adjusted the rear-view mirror.  

"Yeo, put your seatbelt on. I don't want you to fly through the windshield if we crash."  

"Yes, father."  

Snorting slightly, I turned to look at San, "Heh, father, told you that you were an old man trapped in a young body."  

I couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up when San shot me an offended look as he started up the engine.  

"Um, excuse me, I'm not the one that sits in an armchair with glasses on, hair pulled back into a bun and a blanket over my legs as I crochet or knit, am I?"  

I made a move to smack him on the arm before remembering that he was driving.  

"You're so lucky that you're driving."  

Yeosang laughed at our antics, "You two are reminding me of my grandparents bickering right now, so that says something."  

"Dude, you alright?"  

Hongjoong sat down next to Wooyoung, trying to get a better look at his face in the dim light of the bar.  

"Where's she?"  

Hongjoong leant in closer, trying to figure out what Wooyoung was saying.  

"Where's who, Woo."  

"Y/N. She's always here. Where's she tonight?"  

Seonghwa arched a brow, "Y/N? She's probably already at the airport with San and Yeosang right now. Her flight's at 3."  

"Flight?"  

Wooyoung lifted his head up, hazy eyes trying to focus on Seonghwa, "Where's she goin'?"  

"London. She's got a job offer there."   

Seonghwa frowned a bit, "Wooyoung, you know this. Right?"  

Wooyoung dug into his pocket for his phone, fingers struggling to put in the password.  

A few moments later, he brought the phone up to his ear. 

"The person you have called is unavailable, please leave a message after the tone." 

Wooyoung ended the call, frowning down at his phone. 

"I- I think I'm gonna go home." 

-meanwhile- 

"Okay, we're here."  

San pulled up into the car park, before reversing into an empty space.

"I'm gonna go get you a trolley."  

Yeosang went out as I let out a deep breath.  

Unbuckling the seatbelt, I stayed silent for a bit.  

"Hey, you alright?"  

I turned to San when I felt his hand on my arm.  

Smiling, I nodded, "Yeah, no, I'm good, just a bit nervous I guess."  

"Calm down, you're gonna do great over there. If you need any of us, just call. Not sure about Yeosang but I'll always pick up, no matter what time it is."  

Nodding, I hooked my arm around San's neck, pulling him in for a hug, "Thank you."  

"Hey, you two ready or what? Y/N has a plane to catch and if she misses it, I am not gonna be taking her to the airport at 1 in the morning again."  

Pulling apart, we both shook our heads as we got out, heading to where Yeosang had put the trolley and luggage.  

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming. Calm down."  

With San pushing the trolley ahead of us, Yeosang and I trailed behind him.  

"So, you sure you wanna go?"  

"I – Yeo?"  

Yeosang just shook his head, "I'm just making sure this is really what you want. I know how much you hate being on your own, plus," Yeosang wiggled his eyebrows as he bumped my shoulder gently, "I thought you and San were getting along pretty well."  

Laughing, I shoved him forward, "Shut up. It's not like that and you know it."  

"Whatever you say."  

Walking into the airport, we went straight to the check-in desk.  

Once I got the plane ticket, I turned to the boys, "Guess it's time, huh?"

Yeosang came up to me first, pulling me into a hug, "Take care while you're there, okay? Make sure you don't forget to eat when you start getting busy, 'cause I'm not gonna be there to remind you anymore, yeah? Try and de-clumsy-fy yourself as well, 'cause, once again, I'm not gonna be there."  

Laughing slightly, I pulled away, "Okay, don't get emotional on me now, I can see your eyes glistening, and I swear, if you start crying, I gonna start as well and it's gonna be one of those ugly cries."  

Turning to San, I tried to pull him in for a hug. The keyword is trying here because we kept coming in on the same side.  

Pausing slightly, I motioned my head to the right, "I'm gonna come in this way."  

Finally getting it right, San, squeezed me tightly, "Take care of yourself. And remember what I said, no matter when, just call."  

Nodding, I stepped out of his embrace and looked at my watch, "I better get going. I'll text when I land."  

Swallowing thickly, I smiled and waved at the guys before going through security. Trying my best not to look back. 

-three months later- 

Standing in front of the familiar wooden door, I took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell. 

“One moment!”  

The door swung open, revealing a slightly dishevelled Wooyoung.  

“Y/N. What are y- Come in.”  

Thanking him, I awkwardly shuffled into the flat. Since the whole ordeal at the club, Wooyoung and I haven’t really talked.  

“What’re you doing here? I thought you were in London?”  

Wooyoung came over with a couple bottles of water in hand, placing one in front of me.  

“They started a company over here and thought that it’d be a good idea to have me over here than in London.”  

Nodding, Wooyoung simply stared at the bottle in his hand, glancing at me occasionally as an awkward silence settled between us.  

“Look, I know things aren’t good between us, but I just want to say that I did – I do want to be friends with you.”  

I opened my mouth to say something but was stopped.  

“Please listen before you say anything. I don’t think I’d have the courage to say this if you cut me off now. When we first met, you reminded me of Jaein, that was also one of the reasons I wanted to get close to you, I guess. And I’m so, so sorry for the things I did. I kinda realised after the night at the club that you definitely weren’t.”   

Wooyoung let out a short laugh as he picked at his nails, “Even when we were dating if I called her in the middle of the night, she never picked up. You knew everything and you still came, so thank you for that. I – I want to start over again. I hope we can start over again. As friends.”  

I was silent for a while before twisting my body to face him, a small smile making its way across my face, “Yeah. I’d like that.”  

Wooyoung froze for a second, eyes widening as he turned to face me, “You - you would?”  

Chuckling, I nodded, “Yeah, but if you mistake me for Jaein again, I’m gonna do much worse than pour iced water over your head.”  

“Okay, yeah, I – Thank you.”  

We were silent for a minute before I caught a glimpse of mischievous flash through Wooyoung’s eyes.  

“So, you and San?”  

The sudden question made me laugh, “What?”  

“You and San. Something goin’ on there, and don’t lie. I hear him talking to you in the middle of the night.”  

Blushing, I shook my head, “Okay, nope, nothing going on between us.”  

Wooyoung hummed in response, “But I think there is~”  

Wooyoung and I spent a good part of the afternoon catching up, waiting for San and Yeosang to come back.  

“Woo? You got company?”  

A voice rang out through the flat, “I thought you were gonna – Y/N?”  

Yeosang stood still for a second as he took in what he was seeing.  

“What are you doing here? I thought you were in London?”  

Yeosang grinned as I got up a hugged him.  

“I was, but they’re opening a branch here and thought it’d be better to have me working here.” 

Yeosang pulled back slightly, arms still around me.  

“So, you’re staying? For good?”  

“Yeah, I’m staying.”  

Yeosang laughed as he hugged me tighter, “Thank god, it was horrible without seeing your ugly face every day.”  

“Uh, excuse me?” I pulled away from him, “Ugly? You know what, I think I’ll go back to London if that’s the treatment I get from you.”  

“No, no, no, pretty, I meant pretty. How could you ever be ugly? I’ll punch whoever calls you that.”  

Laughing, I escaped his grasp, “So, where’s San?”  

“I’m not sure actually. He was right behind me when we got up.”  

Upon hearing Wooyoung stifled laughter, we turned towards him.   

Confused, I tilted my head slightly, “What?”  

Wooyoung pointed a finger behind us, “You might want to look towards the doorway.”  

Turning around, we were met with a frozen form holding shopping bags.  

“You alright there, Sannie?”  

Grinning, I made my way towards him.  

Finally snapping out of his daze, San put down the shopping bags and shut the door behind him, rushing forward to where I was.  

“What are you doing here?”  

San wrapped his arms around my waist, lifting me off the ground slightly.  

Putting me back down, San pulled away to push some of the hair out of my face.  

“I’m here to work. They’re opening up a branch over here. I’m here for good now.”  

San reached a hand up, cradling my face.  

“So, no more late-night calls because you’re stressed?”  

Laughing slightly, I nodded, “No more late-night calls because I’m stressed. It’ll be late-night calls asking you to come over because I’m stressed.”  

San grinned down at me, “I wouldn’t mind that.”  

He dipped his head down, pressing a short kiss on my lips before leaning back to say something. 

Smiling, I hooked my arm around his neck, bringing him back.  

Okay, I didn’t really think this was how this visit would turn out, but it’s not like I mind. Over the last few months, especially when I was in London, San seemed to be a rather large part of my life. Even though he wasn’t beside me, he was always there for me. After so many late-night conversations, it’s hard not to fall for someone.  

“Ahem. I know you two are happy and all, but can you quit sucking each other's faces off?”  

Pulling apart, we laughed at how annoyed Yeosang sounded.  

Raising a brow at Yeosang, I couldn’t help but remember something, “I thought you wanted San and I together? No? I remember you mentioning something.”  

“I only said that in hopes that you’d move on from the man-whore next to me.”  

Realising what he just said, Yeosang opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Wooyoung laughing.  

“Oh? Me? I feel honoured.”  

Laughing, I playfully rolled my eyes at him, “Careful there, Woo, you’re still on parole here.”  

Raising his hands in surrender, “Whatever you say.”  

I could feel the confused glances of the boys moving between us.  

“I’m sorry,” Yeosang couldn’t help but ask, “When the hell could you two joke around again? Last time I checked, Y/N hated you.”  

Pulling San to the living area, “We talked a bit before you two arrived and worked things out.”  

Snuggling into San’s side on the sofa, I couldn’t help but feel content as I watched Yeosang and Wooyoung bickering.  

Feeling San press a kiss on my forehead, I looked up.  

“I’m glad you’re back.”  

Pressing a kiss on his cheek, I smiled, “I’m glad I’m back as well.”  

Resting my head on his chest, I turned to back to the random show we had on, happy to be back, and happy to be surrounded by friends again. 

[trancetales]

OC Questionnaire

Hellooo! I've been tagged here by the lovely @thatndginger with this tag game of questions for my characters. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to do it with one character or not, but I did. I got into it and carried away so I answered all three questions three times with the three main characters of my Calleigh Hub storyline: Kith, Jacinda, and Lin.

I've had to do this like 3 times because of technical issues, hopefully I'm not missing something! I really enjoyed this so I hope I can get one of these again!

Its kinda long so I'll do the tags and stuff now: @chainsaw-raven, @zestymimblo, @awordchemist and @fleurtygurl, if you fancy it, I'll put forward the questions:

Who is someone who has influenced your life?

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?

What one thing would you have, if you could?

Da Rules: Answer the questions as your OCs, then add questions of your own for the next person.

What kind of impression do you want people to have of you?

Kith -  I want people to think of me as someone they can lean on, and to know that I can lean on them. We’ve all been through our own personal hells, and I think that only by clinging to one another can we keep going through the storms we all face. I want my friends to know that, so we can support eachother no matter what.

Jacinda -  I don’t give a fuck. I’ve given up on impressions. There’s not a person in the city who doesn’t know my face and name as the most wanted criminal in the city. I guess what I’d really want is for people to have no impression of me. Like hell that could ever happen. And Kith seems to have thoughts on that.

Lin -  I wanna to be the light and warmth in the room! I want to make people smile, and to be happy when I’m around. Things are hard for everyone, and if my stupid crap can make someone else smile, even for a moment, then I’ve made someone’s life that tiny bit easier.

What annoys you the most?

Kith -  here are so many things I could say, although most things are worse than annoying. I guess maybe how adamant Jacinda is that she’s fine on her own, when she clearly isn’t. And she knows she isn’t, because she keeps hanging out with me of her own accord. Why won’t she just admit it?

Jacinda -  Kith does. That woman pisses me off. I try my damn best to keep myself jaded, so I can push on without caring about anything. She just doesn’t get it. Why does she even want to be my friend? And why the hell does she think I need one?

Lin -  When people ignore my pratting around, haha. I try to be a nuisance for a reason, but sometimes I think people think I’m just not taking things seriously, and thats fine. But when I’m trying to get a reaction with a stupid pun and they just don’t, isn’t that just the most annoying thing ever?

If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

Kith -  want to be free again. I want to get away from Calleigh entirely, ideally back to my homeworld where neither the Amari Syndicate nor Trace Tech can reach me anymore. I want to get myself and my friends away from all this, so we can all be free together.

Jacinda -  Easy. That incident. Lost control for what felt like less than a minute, and my entire life was destroyed for it. You ever get taken for an execution, and get “rescued” and forced to work for a criminal syndicate? Generally something you’d want to avoid. Although, maybe I’d just change meeting Kith instead.

Lin -  Um. Well… My mother… … Oh, I know! I’d make it so Naveed couldn’t charge me for milkshakes anymore! Or maybe that Kith and Jaz would get it over with and kiss already. Kith and make up. Hah.

[rockyroadkylers]

Weekend WIP game

Rules: List your WIPs below (if you only write one fic at a time, feel free to include future WIPs/ideas!) then answer the following questions. Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs (or more).

Thank you @happiness-of-the-pursuit for tagging me! (technically you tagged my main, @mainstreamelectricalparade, but this is my RWRB blog, so I'm responding here, LOL)

1. WIP List:

(bolding stuff I'm actively working on, since now that I've finished my current project, most of these are still in the very early stages 😂)

It's Nice to Have a Friend sequel (canon-divergent childhood friends-to-lovers AU)

INTHAF tabloid/social media companion fic

Actor AU enemies-to-friends-to-lovers (child actor Alex, non-actor Henry, technically)

the Bond AU (actually also an actor AU where Henry has the opportunity to follow in his father's footsteps and be the next generation's James Bond... but so does Alex 👀)

Tangled AU (Henry is Rapunzel, Alex is Flynn, you can guess where that's going)

I technically have other WIPs, but they're from a different fandom and thinking about them doesn't really spark joy right now, so I'm not going to include them here 😅

2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest?

Um... I think the child actor Alex outline is currently longer than any of the others, and I have the opening scene written for it, so I'll say that one 😂

3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest?

Ooh... at this stage, it's so hard to tell! It could honestly be any of them, I haven't even started working on some of them properly, yet, so I have no idea if they'll be oneshots or fully-fledged longfics. Currently, my best guess would be the sequel for the childhood friends AU, but... that could change.

4. Which WIP is your favourite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why?

I wouldn't say I have a favorite, yet... I've done the most outlining for the child actor Alex AU, just because we had a full-on conversation about it in the server, so a lot of the hard work was done for me 😂 I'm joking, obviously, I still have a lot of work to do, but the server gave me some great ideas, so I'm very excited about that fic. A close second is the childhood friends sequel, though, because that AU is my baby <3

5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why?

Hmm... A little nervous about the Tangled AU, maybe? I'm not sure why, I just find fics based on movies to be difficult, because I want to stay true to the story, but also make put my own spin on it and make it just different enough that it's not, like, an exact replica. I also have to find ways to work around the scenes with singing and dancing in them 😂 but that will be the easy part, tbh.

6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

Maybe the childhood friends AU tabloid/social media fic? I've never really done anything like it before. I have to come up with a whole bunch of headlines, write excerpts of news articles, make social media posts, and tie them all together neatly in a cohesive timeline that ties into the original fic. I've maybe bitten off more than I can chew, but there's no pressure to get anything posted before I'm ready! I think people are more excited for the sequel, anyway 🤭

7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why?

Umm... I might not get a full-on beta, but the sequel for the childhood friends AU isn't just going to be about Alex and Henry's budding romantic relationship, it's also going to be continuing to deal with topics such as the aftermath of Arthur's death, Bea's experience with rehab, Henry starting therapy, and so on, so I'll probably ask some friends from the server to check some stuff over if there's anything I'm not sure about.

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block?

Technically, no, because I've barely gotten started on any of them 😂

9. Which WIP has your favourite OC? Tell us about them?

None of my WIPs have OCs, yet (though I imagine that will change once I really get into the actual writing), but my fully-posted fic, It's Nice to Have a Friend, has two: Robert, Catherine's equerry, and Judy, the head cook at Kensington Palace. I love them both, tbh, a mother could never choose a favorite child 😊

10. Which WIP is the sexiest?

lmao, I don't write sexy stuff 😂 The sexiest thing I've ever written is a brief moment in the epilogue of It's Nice to Have a Friend, where I blink-and-you-miss-it implied that Alex and Henry had sex after getting engaged 😂

11. Which WIP is the angstiest?

That's probably gonna be the sequel 😅 I'm gonna make it as fluffy as I can, but it's gonna be an immediate continuation following chapter 10 of It's Nice to Have a Friend, which means long distance. Plus, like I said in question 7, Henry's still got his grief and Bea's recovery to work through, so it's not going to be the smoothest ride.

12. Which WIP has the best characterisation (in your humble opinion)?

There's no way not to make this sound like a humble brag but I've gotten a lot of comments on It's Nice to Have a Friend that have told me my characterizations are really good, so assuming I'm consistent in the sequel, that will probably remain true there, as well. Although, the two enemies to lovers AUs I have... I don't have any interactions between the boys written down for either of those fics, yet, but that's pretty on-brand for them 😂

13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)?

Uhhh... not entirely sure what this means 😅 Like, overall universe setting, or like a specific scene? I think either way I'm gonna have to go with the childhood friends AU, because I'm just completely in love with it. I can't help it, that AU is my baby 😂 Although I am getting super into the child actor Alex AU, as well!!!

14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on?

DEFINITELY the childhood friends AU! I spent five weeks writing the original fic, and I've been thinking about a sequel for at least two. I only started actually outlining it after I finished writing the first one, but there's no way I can say I've worked harder on anything else, even though the original fic and the sequel are technically two separate fics.

15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why?

The sequel 😂 I can't help it, It's Nice to Have a Friend is the fic that made me fall back in love with writing, and I'm positive that the sequel will continue that legacy. Although I'm feeling really good about the way the child actor Alex AU is turning out, as well!

16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

Uh... maybe? Except, I couldn't really tell if it was just a vague, generic Alex and Henry dream, or if I was actually dreaming about them in the childhood friends 'verse.....

17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other fics don't?

Well, yeah, I mean, before I started writing for RWRB, I was almost exclusively a platonic fluff writer in the Iron Dad fandom (just check my Ao3 page 😂), so almost everything more complex than a toddler with an ear infection adds a new challenge for me, but I'm loving it, so far.

18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humour?

Uh... I'll get back to you on that when I actually have stuff written for any of them 😂 the Tangled AU will probably be pretty funny, though.

19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process?

Yeah! The child actor Alex AU will actually have a lot of Arthur's POV, because in that fic he kind of takes Alex under his wing, both as an acting mentor and as a sort of father figure when Alex needs someone to turn to in the wake of his parents' divorce, so you'll get to see a lot of Arthur's thoughts and feelings as Alex and Henry get to know each other.

20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.

Um... one of the boys is gonna be a Bond Girl, and I'm not telling you which one.

A tag per WIP - I'm still relatively new to this fandom, so I don't know a ton of people's URLs yet, but I'll do my best!

@affectionatelyrs, @inexplicablymine, @read-and-write-, and um... I genuinely don't know anyone's URLs, so I'll just leave it open 😂 if you see this somehow and you're like, "hey, Ky, why didn't you tag ME?" I tagged you in my heart, I just don't know where to find you 😭

[escherbug]

I'm playing Rain Code for the hell of it, I'm gonna liveblog it under this tag if you'd like to mute it. Definitely not spoiler free as I'm just going to put down my thoughts-- my partner isn't much for Spike Chunsoft titles and I want to make a space to talk about it so they don't have to deal with it.

Anyhow, so far we're a little guy with a silly name on a train. I think that maybe it's even worse if the Mandated Mascot Character is your sidekick, actually. You're supposed to hate monokuma (and have complicated feelings about monomi, etc etc), but um. I don't know. I guess I'm supposed to be suspicious of Shinigami as well, but... Definitely the main reason I switched the voice acting to Japanese. These characters just don't translate that well for whatever reason! They just feel so uncanny. Whether that's on purpose or not....

But back to it all, we're a silly named little guy with amnesia and after being introduced to several new characters, almost all of them appear to be dead. I wonder how they're gonna pull this one off? Literally only one other guy left on this autonomous train, and that's WAY too simple and no convoluted for SC.

[twistytriad]

hi

we figured we'd make an introduction post. hello one and all, we are the "twisty triad".. the name sucks but it stuck with us.

we're just.. 3 people.. who like my singing monsters, lol. i guess we can count this as a semi-roleplay blog because.. why not. what we plan to do here? ..we dont know. we're just here because we can, and also to view some msm content. we're all relatively new to tumblr.

um, a brief introduction from all of us, i guess! here are the people running this blog: - Elijah (epic wubbox): hellohello! i'm the main person on this blog, but i do have my own tumblr account, @elijahtheepic. i'm also responsible for most of the art featured on this account, if any. everyone else is.. over on other platforms, lol. - Pom/Angie (pompom): Hey! I'm Pom, or you can call me Angie. If you couldn't already tell, I'm a huge fan of the Pomily! I design (variations of) characters used in our MSM AU, if we ever come around to talk about it. I'm very open to making some friends, and to be fair, all of us are, so don't be afraid to talk to us! :) - Aura (ghazt): hi. i dont do anything big, im comic relief and emotional support, & sometimes i draw, idk what else to say. eli made me do this. i've never really been on tumblr before so this is new i guess lmao ... and that's all of us! again, idk if we'll ever post, we just wanna see whats going on here. and if we do put some stuff out, we'll just tag the posts with our names so it's easy to tell.

[wily-one24]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @rowark (If "anyone who wants to" counts as tagging, and I am going to, so there. If that makes you angry, perhaps you need a nap?).

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 56.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 1,248,713.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The main ones I have written for include Profiler, Buffy, Firefly, Veronica Mars, Once Upon A Time.

And most recently Law and Order: SVU.

I have delved into other fandoms such as The Inside, Rizzoi and Isles, Supergirl, and Heroes.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Memory Cloud - 1,413

Paint It Black - 1,320

The Blue Moon - 811 (it's the smut, isn't it? I know it, you pervs).

The Waning Moon - 783

Elmo's ABCs - 744

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to. I respond to as many as possible. Especially if the fic is fresh. But I have responded to comments on fics that are months/years old. I do miss some comments, sometimes I'm busy and my brain says "I'll get to that later", but then my brain is... not perfect... and it forgets.

However, I love responding to comments. I have made friends in the comments. I have the best discussions in my comments.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh, geez. Like, you're asking me, the Queen of Angst? There were LJ icons with "Jacqui + Angst = OTP". Maybe if I go by fandoms? Firefly's angstiest ending was "DIdn't Mean Nothin'", but also "Pieces" had a super angsty epilogue.

Veronica Mars' angstiest ending? I mean, they were mostly angst middles, weren't they? Super dark middles with hopeful endings. Veronica did bring out the optimist in me. She was so young, she deserves her life to improve after all the shit canon put her through. I guess if I had ever finished "Bitter Revenge" it would have been a tad angsty? But there would have been hope, becauses he would have had the baby!

Swan Queen, whoo. Um, OH YEAH, "You and Me (We Wanted It All)". HA, that was angst a'plenty. Even PIB and Memory Cloud had hopeful (if not happy) endings. But that one was... just some light angst for angst sake.

I mean I only have three fics with SVU, (two of which form part of a series), and only one of which is finished. BUT, I can with confidence say that "Wicked Game" ends pretty fucking bleakly and angstily.

(okay, so I went back to my VM fic masterlist on LJ, and whew, okay, so there's a whole bunch of "exploration" fics that don't necessarily change canon, just delve into it like "Neptune CA Mother's Club" deals with the shit poor mothers in Neptune, "Courting Disaster" devles into Logan's abuse, "The Tender Bruise" and "Bruises In the Mirror" were both angst fests that didn't end happily per se. Also, "The Ghost and Mrs Mars" was... not hopeful at all. Man, I *forgot* a LOT of them).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

🤣🤣🤣

Ok, let me think. I'm assuming we're not talking smut fics? LIke, happy endings? 'Cause I have a bunch of PWPs which could be considered 'happy'. But... let's say what a reasonable person might be called happy...

I think "Sleep Perchance" was pretty optimistic and its sequel "... To Dream" was set to end in a much more positive place than it began. "Whisky Bears" was just a fun fic, drunken fun on a spaceship. What more do you want? And "Boobs" was just silly.

"The Best Deceptions"!! That was such a good fluffy sweet fic. It's a WIP, so no ending, but still. OMG, I forgot this one. It's my only real non-angst fluff fic.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I used the laughing so hard I cried emoji too early, didn't I?

I mean, I would say usually not. I have spent decades in fandom and Once Upon A Time was the only fandom I got hate in.

A small amount for "The Blue Moon", because apparently there was a second 'Emma as a stripper' fic and I was accused of plagiarising, but this was later rescinded because the fics were totally different.

And also when someone decided to get really spiteful and tell me they lost all respect for me because I dared to find Emma sexy instead of fetishisizing Regina for all eternity.

OBVIOUSLY, the most intense hatred I got was for Paint It Black. The vilest, most bitter things were thrown at me. In the comments, in private messages. I got death threats. I had rape wished on me. I was told my kids should be taken away. I was accused of trying to lure in lesbians only to give them 'straight cock filled depravity".

Because there was a man in one sex scene. Meanwhile, it was never listed as a purely lesbian fic, and the two ladies have canonically HAD male romantic and sexual partners in the past. So... not sure what the huge vitriol was about.

I sure did learn to TAG PROPERLY after that, though. My god.

Get a grip, fandom, get a grip.

No other fandom has been that unhealthy. At least, not for me.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, I do. I have written both F/M and F/F. I have also written F/M/F, M/F/M, and F/F/F.

There's usually at least ONE woman involved. I have not, nor am I interested in writing M/M fics (boy parts iz icky).

Most readers find the scenes pretty hot. I tend to be descriptive and emotional when writing smut. Unless it's a PWP, there's usually a whole bunch of motivation and emotion involved. Even when it's a PWP there's usually a whole lot of characterisation in there.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I tend not to?

That said, I have written one.

It was a Heroes/Veronica Mars crossover, in which Sylar mistakes Veronica for his recently murdered (by his own hand, natch) girlfriend Elle and perhaps loses his very unstable mind over it a little. Leading to a slight case of kidnapping, Keith and Noah coupling up Buddy Cop style for some cross country chasing, super powered hijinx, and UBER ANGST. The tag line reads "What Happens when a Serial Killer and a Serial Victim Meet".

To be honest, it was kind of amazing and I loved it. It was working up to be Super Dubcon, but hadn't quite gotten there yet. I am sad that this remains a WIP. I would have loved to have finished this.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I've had some fics put on GoodReads, but they took them down when I asked them to.

I did have one of my fic scenes pretty much plagiarised in Firefly. What makes it worse is that they used it for a couple I hate. I let it go, though. That fic never quite got the same steam mine did. There was no point giving it attention.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of. I think it has been asked before, but I am a little wary of that sort of thing. I lose control of it if other people change it.

That said, I have had comments on my fics in a completely different language and I used Google Translate to both understand and reply. I will make the effort.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No.

I am jaded. I am very particular about my fics and, as said above, I do not like to lose control over them (what, control issues? Who? Me?)

I am also heavily jaded for things like fic swaps. It's my own fault, I realise this, because I would put so much effort and write thousands upon thousands of words of fic and get a 500 word piece back and it really put me off. Again, I know it's my fault, I chose to put that much effort in, but still.

Wait...I am having vague recollections of something like a fic round-robin? I could not tell you what fandom (I assume Firefly, but not sure), and certainly could never link back to it or even know how to google for it. I guess that counts? BUt I doubt it, because I can't even tell you what the fic was about or what my contribution to it was. So... no.

Hmmm, I was also involved in a Season Rewrite for Profiler back int he day, but all those fics are lost to the internet heyday and you'll never find them. Huh, I htink my episode was called "Lady In Red". (omg, THE MEMORIES).

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Geez. Asking the hard questions. I don't know. All my ships hold a place in my heart, that's why I write them. So, the answer is... I guess... if you've seen me write for that couple, then THAT couple is my favourite in that moment.

(I like, I have had a few fic requests that I've filled that haven't really been my cup of tea, Veronica/Lamb for instance, or Jayne/River, or Simon/River. I don't like them, but I have written them).

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

All of them. ALL OF THEM. I mean, "Adam's Rib" had so many stories to tell and I could have gotten lost in "The Best Deceptions" world. Omg, that was such a happy, schmoopy fic. Let me go back up to happy fics for a sec...

"... To Dream", "Bitter Revenge", and "Girl int he Mirror" will be my sadness from VM.

and ALL my SQ WIPs. "The New Moon", "A Swan Is A Beautiful Creature", "The Girl of My Dreams (Is Giving Me Nightmares)", "Subject 3662", "Blooding the Water". *sob*. I'm sorry!!!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Angst.

Detail.

Lots of people comment on my phrasing and pacing. The way I string words together and have breaks and just bring forth the imagery. It's never just "and then this happened and then this happened and he put his hand here and she put her mouth there".

No matter where I am planning to go with a fic, i always start from a canon point and keep that canon history. I try to keep characerisations believable. They may get into plots and situations that they would never in canon, but I like to hope I keep their reactions believable and true.

I like to delve into the emotion of it. You know the tumblr meme "Put that guy into situations". THAT'S what I do. And then I examine the ever living fuck out of it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I don't have a beta reader.

Which is troublesome, because my hands don't work properly anymore. At least, not as well as they used to. I have what's called dupuytren's contracture. It's a thickening fibrous band around the tendons of the hand. My hands aren't restricted, so much at the moment, but it does slow down my pinkie fingers. Which means when I touch type, there are so many mistakes. And I can't NOT touch type.

These come out mainly in things like double capitals (ever wonder why so many times in SVU fics I have the name "LIv" and not "Liv", it's because that capital 'i' is harder to spot. If I type "THe" I see it and fix it. But my eye seems to skip over the "LIv" and "HIs" words.

It also comes out in the spaces in the wrong place. I will type t he instead of 'the', or 'ith appened' instead of 'it happened'.

I spend A LOT OF TIME, going back and editing sentences I have just written. The amount of times I have had to go back and delete/edit words just in this post alone is staggering. It makes things take twice as long.

I have had to work really hard to get back into writing. I stopped for a great deal of time, many years, because I was so bothered by this.

Add to that, the kidney failure gives me brain fog, so I have to spend a lot of time trying to remember the specific words I want to use. For someone who uses words INSTRINSICALLY, knowing there is a specific word I want and not being able to access it in my memory? FUCKING FRUSTRATING, I Can tell you.

Another great weakness is starting a dozen fics at once and being unable to keep up and then being overwhelmed and losing momentum.

This is how I have so many WIPs.

I keep that in mind now, which is why I am limiting myself to two ongoing SVU fics and THAT IS IT. No more until they're finished.

THough I have actually been writing SO MUCH lately. At least once chapter a week. So this is good. Makes me happy.

I get the feeling that I tend to homogenise my characterisations a little. But this doesn't seem to be a complaint of any commenters, so I try not to let my imagination run wild with me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I have done it.

Firefly fic, by necessity, uses a lot of Chinese. I used to know the html to do the hover type and would have Chinese dialogue with hover type translations. It was fun, because as is the Firefly traditions, you could have the filthiest things in Chinese and the censors wouldn't pick it up. (My favourite thing I wrote translated to... something like "Your mother sucks rotten beef sticks in hell" if I am remembering correctly).

Alas, I have forgotten the html for that. I am sure it's just a google away, but... I don't really need translations for English fics.

I also did a bunch of research for Trigidasleng. I never really wrote The 100 fics, though I did write some drabbles. I probably did more research that necessary for the mount of fic I actually wrote.

But, yeah, I think if the source material calls for it, you should definitely put the effort in.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Who wants a laugh? When I was in primary school, 3rd grade I think, we wrote books. We got to type them on a computer, the teacher printed them out, then bound them and we drew the pictures and coloured them in.

I still have mine.

It's called "Bugs Bunny, Brooke, and the Giant Banana", which was a combination of Bugs Bunny (natch), mary sue insert of my friend Brooke, and James and the GIant Peach.

BUAH HAH HAH.

But truly? My first fandom was Profiler. This is the show that got me ONTO the net, introduced me to fandoms and message boards and fics. If it weren't for those people, I wouldn't be here now.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Don't ask me to choose a favourite child!

Are you kidding me?

I cannot. I can't even do it per fandom. I love them all, which is why I wrote them.

How could you be so cruel?

Tagging: YOU, if you want to.

[shadesofmauve]

2022 Writing Wrap Up

Total words published: 149, 266. All but 947 of them published three days ago.

Additional words written: Oh, hell, your guess is as good as mine. I've got Perpetual Soup documents simmering over here, I take bits from them and add to them all the time. Like, google is crashing rather than admit that the Epic Scrap Yard doc has been around and perpetually changing since 2011. I know I had 4000 words on the next chapter before the clock struck midnight on the 31st; I can't remember how much I added to @swaps55' fav upcoming arc (aka Kai Leng's Worst Mistake Ever) or the Vortex of Tears, but I know it was something.

Grand total of words: 149,266++! Only not, because I didn't write all those; many were first published years ago, and even the re-writes represent about three years of work. So who the hell knows.

Fandoms: Mass Effect, of course. I've also added small amounts to an original novel idea, but mostly world-building notes.

Highest everything (raw kudos, hits comments): Of all time? It's always A Star to Steer Her By for hits, kudos, and bookmarks. I'm pleased to see Sunset and Evening Star beats it for subscriptions, though!

Highest kudos-to-hits ratio: Okay, I don't think this is fair. People come re-read aStSHB, but they can only leave kudos once. Like, far and AWAY the biggest k:h ratio is for Copilots, which is a tear-jerker short fic I gave to @musanocturnis in a holiday exchange because I'm a horrible friend. It only has 45 hits total, but people who go "I know, I want to CRY!" and click on it are apparently getting what they signed up for.

New things I tried: Um. Hrm. @swaps55, what did I try that was new? :P I wanna say there's something in the Emotional Cascade Failure chapter, but it wasn't so much new as hard. There's a lot of emotional stuff in SaES that's very much putting myself in situations I have no experience with — which is always part of writing, and is new every time.

Fic I spent the most time on: Sunset and Evening Star, no question.

Fic I spent the least time on: Shipmates, my lil' exploration of how Joker and Kaidan met.

Favorite thing I wrote: I like a LOT of what I wrote this year, which is an awesome feeling! I get giggly-excited over some space combat sections that haven't seen the light of day yet, and about anything with Alejandro. I'm very pleased with coming up with the Poss'm acronym. And Joker and Kaidan's ridiculous N7 Craft Hour conversation cracks me up more than it should, for sure.

Favorite thing I read: I've done way, way more writing than reading of fic, but it's got to be one of the scenes with the Yang Gang from @swaps55' Cantata. I just love their whole dynamic. The needlepoint wall sends me, and I'm going to work a reference to it in somewhere. I also really liked Wish I May, Wish I Might by @spaced0lphin, who's out there single-handedly providing every possible form of content for the Shoker fandom including a frickin' game mod. (Which I haven't yet played for the same reason I haven't read the Tiger By My Side rewrite, @spaced0lphin — keeping my own story clear while I'm neck deep in it, and not having time :( — but the original TBMS was my fav Shoker long fic, back in the day, so...)

Writing Goals for 2023: PUBLISH NEW CHAPTERS! We're lookin' good, just gotta keep going.

New works: Just Shipmates, I think. Though my main fic is so damn long I sort of feel like the new chapters count. That'd be A Bunk on the Normandy, Emotional Cascade Failure, and Possum, most of Trust, then the new chapter Shipmates (which is different than the short fic, titles are just hard, okay). There's other new stuff through-out, but those are almost 100% new.

Tagging: @writes-in-space, @spaced0lphin, @virusq

[dankovskaya]

Ok fuck it installed um I'm not gonna tag for spoilers or anything unless one of you very severely wants me to but if I go on a rant about the main plot or something I'll put that under read mores I guess whatever

[kindahoping4forever]

💞🦋🍉 Love you work Crys!

Thanks for the questions, Vee! 🫶🏻

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

I'd say the relationship between the characters is always my first priority - my fics typically aren't the most high concept (though I have one hopefully coming this year that challenges that a bit) so they kind of live and die by if the relationship is entertaining and most importantly, believable. Something interesting (?) about my process is once I have a basic plot spark, I immediately plan the smut (and there's even been times when I have the smut idea first and then build a story to facilitate that scene). I love using sex scenes as a way to show the inner workings and complexity of a relationship and so planning the smut early on helps me determine what kind of dynamic that couple is going to have outside of the bedroom. So I guess the relationship and figuring out how to portray that via smut is most important.

🦋what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?

Um, everything? 😂 Honestly I think the thing I get the most insecure about is I'm always afraid no one will read it! I'm not typically concerned about whether or not people like it, art is subjective and I'm at the point where as long as I like the story, I'm happy with it. But still, the goal of sharing is ultimately for other people to engage, so when it feels like that's not happening, it can be kind of nerve-wracking and sometimes discouraging.

Sharing fic now is also a lot different than when I started in 2020 - 5SOS Tumblr was a lot more active but especially the writing community, I swear there was at least one fic a day being posted, if not more. Feedback was relatively instant and plentiful and the main method of delivery was via reblogs (and tags) and every reblog essentially gave the fic new life and opportunity for more feedback because it was being put on people's dashes constantly. For whatever reason, reblogs are a rarity now (for example, my latest fic has 315 notes but only 33 of those are reblogs) so the amount of feedback I receive has also greatly diminished - obviously less reblogs mean less tags but also the post is getting seen by less people because it's not being shared. So it's harder to tell if people are actually reading the stories or not because there's less conversation about them. You used to be able to tell if a story was popular because it would be inescapable the first few days after it posted because everyone was reblogging it. Now people just stuff it in their likes so it feels like a lot less of a communal experience, I guess? So that's something I've had to get used to and learn not to let that "reception" dictate whether or not I consider a fic successful or not.

🍉in what ways has writing helped you process trauma and/or navigate through your own life?

It's funny, this is something I've actually discussed in therapy before (oh are we not all talking to our therapists about our fan fic adventures? 😂). I grew up in a very conservative, religious family and while I felt like I worked hard at the time to maintain a healthy attitude towards sex, my body and my view of myself as a woman (both independently and in a relationship), a significant part of my adult life has still been spent sifting through the subconscious shame and overarching trauma that resulted from spending my formative years in such a repressive environment.

Something I particularly struggled with was fear of being judged or perceived differently if I was open about anything regarding my sexual self. I wasn't prudish by any means in my private life but basically I got too good at masking that side of myself, essentially living dual lives, that my instinct was still to publicly project manufactured purity and shame even when I didn't need to anymore.

Even when I first joined Tumblr, I was hesitant to interact with the fics I was reading because it felt embarrassing being publicly associated with sexual content. And look at me now! Known for writing thirsty tags and smutty fic 😂 In all seriousness, writing and sharing the types of stories I write, plus having open discussions about them with others (with both commenters and friends), has been an immensely healing and rewarding part of my Tumblr journey that I really did not expect but am entirely grateful for.

[bustyasianbeautiespod]

Episode 51 Transcript: Music Killed My Grandma!

G: Hellooo everyone. 

C: Heyyy people. Guess what day it is.

G: We're doing a cold open because it's…

C: It's Spotify Wrapped Day.

G: Spotify Wrapped. And we want you to inform us about your Spotify Wrapped this year. Only if–

C: But just the podcast part, I don't really care about your top song. [G laughs] Well, I kinda do, let me know. 

G: Only if- I think it's fun if we find out, like, people who have us as their top podcast, what music they listen to. So we only care about your Spotify Wrapped if you also listen to BABPod.

C: This is true.

G: Yeah. Yeah. We know there is 69 of you [C laughs] who have us as their top 1 podcast.

C: Yeah, that is the stat Spotify gave us. 69 of you.

G: So all 69 of you should tell us. [laughs] 69. I love that number, and I'm very grateful that there's 69 [C laughs] of you guys out there who have us as their top 1.

C: You have to stop saying 69. [G laughs]

G: I think it's so funny!

C: It's really good.

G: This cold open is going on for way too long.

C: Yeah, just tag us on Tumblr and we'll love you forever, thank you.

G: Yeah, Tumblr, Twitter, email?

C: Sure.

G: You can do it. Yeah. Anyway, that's it. Let's get on with the episode!

C: Yeah, have a good episode.

-

[intro guitar music]

G: Hello! My name is Grey.

C: And my name is Crystal.

G: And this is Busty Asian Beauties, a Supernatural commentary podcast where I, someone who has seen this show several times.

C: And I, someone who only knows the show through social media, discuss every single episode of Supernatural from start to finish. Also, we are both Asian.

G: Both Asian! For today's episode [C groans], I still have not pulled out- I have pulled out- what's the name of this episode and who's the director?

C: Who have you not pulled out yet of? [laughs]

G: Wait, don't say "pulled out" independently like that. It sounds weird. What's the name of this episode?

C: "Fresh Blood."

G: Fresh! I was looking up "true blood," and apparently, there's a TV show called True Blood, so-

C: Yeah. Yeah, there is.

G: Okay. So today, we're talking about Season 3, Episode 7: "Fresh Blood," written by Sera Gamble, directed by Kim Manners.

C: Death to Sera Gamble. [G laughs] Um, I can't finish the second part of that because he did die. [laughs]

G: Noo! Noo! We're horrible people.

C: You can cut that out, if you want.

G: No, it's funny. I'm putting it in.

So what are our pre-episode thoughts?

C: Hatred, biting, killing, which are all things that do happen in this episode. [G laughs]

G: Yeah. We had- I don't know. You know, like, sometimes, you watch an episode of a show, and you're like, "Okay." And then that's your only reaction. [laughs]

C: Yeah.

G: That's kind of how I felt about this episode. They were trying to do a lot of things, and the only thing that actually affected me emotionally was the very last thing that they did, the one with the car.

C: Yeah, where Dean is showing Sam how to fix up the car. Yeah, that was a nice scene in an otherwise horrific episode.

G: Yeah, I mean, at this point, is this a horrific episode, or is this just an episode of Supernatural? Maybe Supernatural in and of itself is horrific, and we need to accept this fact.

C: Yeah, to contextualize like, where I'm at, like, since watching this episode, the media that I have consumed are all of season 1 of the Interview With the Vampire (2022) show [G laughs], Little Women, directed by Greta Gerwig, and The Farewell, directed by Lulu Wang. So at the end of that, my main thought about Supernatural is, "Why am I still watching it?" [G laughs] There's a limited amount of time in my life, and perhaps every single thing I could watch other than Supernatural would be better than Supernatural.

G: Yeah, I've been saying since, like, last episode, that I've been playing and actually finished playing The Great Ace Attorney [overlapping] and it's such- it's such good media. It like, it is such a good story, and everything, and it's like, why am I watching Supernatural? There are moments when I was saying The Great Ace Attorney, ‘cause like, a major theme of that game is like, "the people you look up to are not always going to be good," you know, shit like that. And I was like, thinking, they were also trying to do this in Supernatural and it was not this good! [both laughing]

C: Yeah, they try to do a lot of things in Supernatural. And it was not that good.

G: Yeah. So what did you know about this episode before watching it?

C: Gordon escapes from jail, gets turned into a vampire, goes all bloodlusty, and then gets murdered horrifically.

G: Yeah. Good summary.

C: Yeah.

G: We can end the episode now! [laughs]

C: [laughs] Okay, goodbye everyone, see you next week for "A Very Supernatural Christmas." Email us at- okay, anyway. But yeah, I also knew about what Sterling K. Brown, the actor for Gordon, said about this episode, like, I'd seen the excerpt from the interview that he had. Should we just read that now?

G: Sure. Yeah. Go on.

C: Okay. Yeah. So okay, the interviewer asks him, “In Season 3's ‘Fresh Blood.’ Gordon is transformed into a vampire. How did that sit with you?” And he says, “That was really hard. I called Eric Kripke when I first got the script and realized I was going to be expiring. I wasn't so bummed about expiring, because all good things must come to an end. The thing that was horrific for me is that Gordon turns an innocent girl into a vampire. That was hard because his sister was turned, and he had to take her out. That began his career as a hunter. So I know Gordon does a lot of jack things, and isn't the most righteous individual. But did he have to do this? Eric was like, ‘We talked about it for a long time, but now that he's a monster and operates off instinct, he is not so logical, when the bloodlust comes on and you have the desire to feed, it is huge, and your strategy does not take into consideration collateral damage. His endgame is to kill Sam, and anyone else who has to experience detrimental effects because of that is not a concern of his.’ That was tough for me to process and get on board with.” Sorry, Sterling K. Brown! You went to Juilliard for this!

G: Sorry, dude. It's like, when the whole time Gordon was, you know, doing his thing, all I could think of was like, “This should be more emotional for him because of his backstory,” like, that was- Sera Gamble also wrote that episode, so like, why did she forget?

C: Yeah. Yeah, I don't think she forgot. I think she just assumed that he doesn't have feelings?

G: Doesn't care. Yeah, which is weird, given that they were trying to do the whole “monsters can have feelings too” thing for like, God knows how long.

C: Right. Yeah, like, she did the episode with the good vampires that have feelings. But as soon as the vampire is not the pastiest white woman that ever did live, no more feelings.

-

G: So to start, we have Gordon talking to Bela like, in the middle of a road. 

C: Yeah. I do enjoy this interaction. They're good characters to face off.

G: Yeah, because, like, Gordon is like, so dictated by what he deems is good, and you know, stuff like that. And then Bela is an all-money person. It's like, fun!

C: [laughs] It is fun.

G: Yeah, so at first, Bela doesn't know who this guy is, and he says, “I'm Gordon Walker,” and she looks a little bit alarmed, and she's like, “Oh, I know who you are. I've heard about you,” and they start talking, and Gordon has a gun pointed at her, and is basically saying, “Tell me where Sam and Dean is, or I'll shoot you.” And they even do this thing where Bela’s like, “Well, you can negotiate with me,” and then he puts down the gun, and is like, “Well, in exchange for telling me where Sam and Dean is, you get to stay alive,” you know, and stuff like that. [laughs] It’s honestly super fun! I like this scene.

C: It is fun.

G: And eventually what happened is, Gordon is like, “I can give you $3K.” And then she goes, “I don't wake up for $3K.” And…but she sees the little hex bag- they call it something in the show. 

C: A mojo bag. 

G: Yeah, a mojo bag. [laughs] I find it hard to believe that Bela would say ‘mojo bag’ but like, ‘mojo’ is an actual word?

C: Yeah, I think it's a hoodoo thing. It's like, specifically a bag that has powers that derive from hoodoo.

G: Ah, so it's Dean who's using it wrong.

C: Wrong. Yeah. [laughs]

G: Yeah. Okay. So she sees the mojo bag, and she's like, “Oh, that's priceless. If you give it to me, you'll find the Winchester brothers,” and Gordon eventually does, and Bela calls Dean and goes [British accent] “Hey, Dean, where are you?” [both laugh]

C: God, she's so real for this.

G: Yeah.

C: Also Dean picks up like, right away. This man is dickmatized for real.

G: This man is smitten. 

C: It was good to see Bela. I didn't know that she was gonna be in this episode. Oh yeah, also, I think in this scene Gordon calls Sam Winchester the [both] Antichrist, which is very fun. Love that name for Sam. Also, the last time Bela saw Sam was Sam getting sexually harassed by an old woman, so I feel like this is a strange thing for Bela to be hearing.

-

C: So okay, Sam and Dean. They're like, working a case. They're like, near some warehouse, something in the dark. And there's a man who is bleeding out on the ground, and Sam’s doing the whole, like, “Don't worry. We're getting an ambulance for you,” while Dean's doing the [yelling] “Where is she? Where's the vampire?” at this poor, dying man. [G laughs] So Dean runs off. And he does this thing that I've seen gifsetted a lot by people who want to fuck Dean Winchester, where- right, so he tries to lure the vampire out by, like, making a cut across his forearm. He goes like, “Smell that? Come and get it!” And he says, “I smell good, don't I? I taste even better.” [laughs] Okay. And a woman who has her face covered in blood comes over and like, tries to bite his neck, does bite his neck, and then he injects dead man's blood into her, and she passes out. Sam comes over and tells Dean, like, “Hey, that was kind of a risky play there,” which is something that continues throughout the episode.

G: [laughs] Ugh. I hate it here.

C: They've done this for so long. We've done this for so long. 

G: I know! It's been seven episodes. Like, I mean, I get that the main conflict of the season is that Dean is dying. But have we considered that we can have other conflicts in this season? I mean, I guess Sam being- trying to be killed by Gordon is conflict, but like, it's ended now. 

C: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that one ended pretty fast. Also, I feel like- I find it strange that we haven't seen Ruby for a little while, because they've pushed the whole “Dean's deal” thing as a subplot so hard in this episode and some of the previous episodes, and I feel like we never really resolved Ruby saying that she could get him out of it. But, you know. Whatevs.

G: Whatevs!

-

G: So back in the…motel room. No, are they in a motel room? The transcript says it’s a motel room.

C: Yeah, but it looks sort of like they're squatting.

G: [overlapping] Yeah, it seems like it's just a house. Anyway, there's the girl from earlier, she’s tied up to a chair, and she wakes up, and she is very confused, and like, almost crying, you know. She's miserable, and Sam and Dean are doing their bit of like, “Where's your nest?” And she's like, “I don't know what you're talking about!” And they're like, “Ha. Nice try, bitch. But where is your nest?” You know, stuff like that. Eventually-

C: Yeah. Also, she's very tits out, which I guess we find out later because she was turned at a club, but like, ugh. Do we have to do this? Do we have to? Also she’s blonde, which is relevant.

G: She's wearing a corset, which is- Yeah, she is blonde, and that's gonna be a thing. [laughs]

C: Jesus Christ!

G: Love that. 

C: Love that. 

G: I don't know why that's making me laugh. I'm sorry, blonde women. You’ve been through enough. 

C: Yeah, I’m sorry, blonde women. You have a lot of privileges in life, but one of your not-privileges is that every serial killer wants you. So yeah, F to you.

G: Yeah. So, the vampire, the vampire lady is saying that she took something, and that kind of alarms Sam, and he's like, “Wait. You took something?” and she mentions- it's so fascinating to me that they never say the word “drug” in this episode.

C: [laughs] Yeah.

G: ‘Cause what happened was, she was like, in the club, and then a guy came up to her who was the dealer, and he said, like, “I can give you something that you've never experienced before.” And then he put it in her drink, and then she became like this, and by “like this,” like, she can hear heartbeats from a block away. Lights and sunlight and sounds and everything are so intense, the smells, everything. Stuff like that. And what she's saying is basically, she can't come down. Like, it's fascinating to me also that they never say the word “high.” It's so funny! Like, she's like, “Oh, I took something, and it was from a dealer." But like, never say the word drugs. But then she keeps on saying, “I want to come down. I want to come down. I just want to come down.” And then Sam and Dean like, go to the other room to talk it out. 

C: Yeah. They also ask what the guy looks like, and she says, “He was old. Like, thirty.”

G: Thirty! [C laughing] Wonderful.

C: How old is she supposed to be? Because, like, the actress, like, I would say, is like, 25 to 30 years old. How old is she supposed to be?

G: The guy looks like, 26, you know, and she looks like, 30.

C: [overlapping] Yeah, and she looks 25.

G: So like, what's happening? What's going on?

C: "He was old. Like 30." [both laugh] Do they think only teenagers watch Supernatural?

G: This woman is operating on K-pop age standards, you know, how like-

C: I was gonna say she's operating off of like, queer elder standards. [G laughs]

G: If you were on Tumblr when Superwholock was big, you are a queer elder. [C laughs]

So Sam and Dean go to the other room to talk about it, and they're like, “We have no choice. We have no choice.” And Dean goes back to cut her head off. And, like, I was a bit uncomfortable by the fact that there was no, like, any push back anywhere.

C: Yeah! Uh-huh. Like, we know that vampires can subsist off of animal blood. Like, they met Lenore like, last season, so it would be possible to just inform her of the situation, and then tell her that she has to feed on cattle. When the werewolf-

G: Yeah, why couldn't they hand her off to Lenore?

C: Right. They don't have a Lenore’s contact info, because like, she ran off-

G: Eh, maybe they do.

C: But yeah, they should have gotten Lenore’s contact info. When Maddy got turned, they called Bobby to ask if there was a way to unturn a werewolf.

G: Yeah!

C: They did not bother here.

G: I'm sorry I keep interrupting. But with Maddy, it's because Sam was in love with her, or whatever they had going on. But like, this poor woman, because Sam did not feel an ounce of affection for her, just gets to die?

C: Yeah. And especially because they deceived her earlier-

G: Yeah, and it's so prominent-

C: They were like, "If you tell us what happened, we'll let her go." Like, ugh!

G: Yeah. Also, like, it's made even more prominent, like, the Madison and this girl comparison by the fact that the shot where Dean is like, cutting her head off is pretty similar to like, how the Madison's episode ends, you know what I mean?

C: Right, 'cause it's Sam's face and-

G: It's Sam's face only, and then you hear it. Yeah. So it really takes you back to that episode, and you're like, "Why didn't they try to do literally anything?"

C: Yeah. Yeah. It sucks. It sucks so bad. Ugh.

-

C: So we cut to a hospital room, and the guy that was bleeding out because of the vampire that they just killed, he's there, and Gordon and Kubrick, baby, are here.

G: Jesus man is back! Jesus guy is back.

C: Jesus man is back.

G: And is it just me, [laughs] or is Jesus Guy and Gordon- do they have a little something going on?

C: Oh, they definitely have a little something going on.

G: They have a little something going on. And I love that!

C: They didn't have that much going on last time. I feel like since Kubrick helped Gordon escape, they've had a few stray hookups, so. [G laughs]

G: I mean, spoiler, but Jesus man dies this episode, and the death scene was so like- like, it was like Hannibal, the scene where Hannibal guts Will type of situation. [C laughs] I'm right, though. I'm right, though.

C: Yeah, no, you're right. And that is what romance is. So yeah. You are right.

So right, the two of them are questioning him. They're FBI agents. Oh, I didn't manage to pause and see what the name on Gordon's badge was. I don't know if it was there. It'd be fun if he also did like, rock stars. [G laughs]

G: What do you think would uh Gordon have as his name?

C: Like, what do I think Gordon's Spotify playlist looks like? I have no idea.

G: Do you think it's like, a rule in hunter culture that you should go with a pop culture reference, or do you think that's just Sam and Dean? And if so, what do the others do?

C: I think Sam and Dean are just losers.

G: What do the others do, then? Just use random-ass names.

C: Actually like, try to look up an actual FBI agent and take their name.

G: Oh, that's smart. [laughs] Yeah. Just like what Dean did that episode where he turned out to be like-

C: Oh, when the cop was Black, yes.

G: "I've got that Michael Jackson disease." [both laugh]

C: Just like that.

G: Yeah.

C: So yeah, Gordon asks about the person who attacked the man, and he was like, “Yeah, it was some woman who bit me in the neck,” and they asked, “Did any of her blood get inside of you?” And he was like, “No,” and Gordon says, “Well, that's good, because we would have had to kill you.” And he just stares the guy down afterwards. The guys like, “Haha! Good joke.” And Gordon just unblinkingly looks at him. Is Gordon usually this bad at being an FBI agent?

G: I mean...

C: Like, he's considered a very good hunter. Like, he should probably be better at this.

G: Yeah. But you know, this episode, they were trying to do something, I guess.

C: Yeah, they're like, "He's so scary and evil." So yeah. Whatever.

And the man mentions, “Oh, like, these two guys rescued me,” and Gordon's like, “Huh. What did they look like?” And the guy was like, “Oh, one of them was really tall.” [G laughs]

G: Okay, if you were a witness to Sam and Dean’s shenanigans, how would you describe them? Two white guys...

C: Two white guys, lumberjack look. Yeah, I don't know.

G: I think I would- I have never met a person who was six feet tall. Like, that's my basis of like- that's my-

C: Wait, really? Not even six feet?

G: I don't think so. Like, I don't think so. Because, like, the average height of Filipino men are like 5’8”, something like that, and like, for women, it's like, five foot. So like, I don't-

C: Average?

G: Let's look at the average height for men. "Average height men Philippines." Okay. Average height for a Filipino man is five feet, 4.25 inches tall. Average Filipino-

C: Wait, 5'4"?

G: Yeah. [laughs] Short king. And for women, it's 4’10”.

C: Wait, 4’10”? No. That can be right! For real?

G: Yeah. I'm 5’3”, and I'm the tallest person in my friend group.

C: Wow.

G: If I'm in the train, and we're standing, I'm towering over everyone.

C: Huh! I always assumed you lived your life as a short person. [G laughs] But okay.

G: I'm only a short person in comparison to you, and also, like, every single girl I've dated. [C laughs]

C: Good for you.

G: Thank you. Yeah.

So I think I would be like, “Oh my god, they're super tall,” because, you know, my basis for height is quite short.

-

C: They're leaving Spider, which is the club that the earlier woman said she was at, and they reveal exposition-wise that apparently, all the people who have gone missing have been blonde women, and three of them have gone missing from here. And then they see this guy with a blonde woman like, going around into an alley, so they follow them.

G: It's so weird that they were like, “One guy’s going out with one girl. That must be the vampire.” And they were right. [C laughs] Like, that's the amazing thing. They were right.

C: Yeah. Good for them. So the guy, he has this like, eyedropper sort of thing, and there's blood in it. I- okay, don't you have to- I thought you had to bite them and then feed them your blood. You can just feed them your blood, and that's enough?

G: I think so. Because like, if it's in the mouth, right-?

C: In Interview With the Vampire, they had to.

G: Well, Interview in the Vampire- With the Vampire. I don't know. What is it called? It's IWTV, so it's "with the vampire"- and Supernatural run in very different leagues, so.

C: They actually mention that decapitation is a way to kill a vampire in Interview With the Vampire, though, and dead man's blood is a thing, too.

G: Wow!

C: So they should be consistent, lorewise. And, you know, since Interview With the Vampire’s the better piece of media, then its lore is the one that should be respected.

G: For the very real creature that is the vampire,

C: Exactly. This is the more scientifically-backed show.

So yeah, he is about to put some of his blood in her mouth. Do people in clubs really just take drugs from random people? Like, I know that they do. But like, do they really?

G: I don't know. I'm not the type to like, know anything about drugs so like, don't ask me.

C: That's fair, yeah.

So before the blood can get into her mouth, Dean like, starts beating up the guy. Sam pulls her away and tells her to run. And there's a bit of a fight. The vampire runs off. But you know who is there is Gordon and Kubrick.

G: [laughs] I love that.

C: Yeah.

G: They literally just showed up and like, it's such a bad timing, bro. It's such a bad timing. Because what happens next is, there was a fight scene, and, as you know, I do not know how to describe fight scenes. But basically, they're just fighting. [laughs]

C: Yeah. [laughs] True. They sure are.

G: And then Gordon gets cornered by the vampire. I have no idea how this happens. Like, the logic did not flow for me when I was watching the scene.

C: Yeah, right. Sam and Dean- well, Dean does a thing where he like, decides to like, let Sam escape by distracting Gordon and Kubrick by like, jumping around on cars as they shoot at him. [laughs]

G: Yeah, like, it's a very big deal because it's like, "He's jumping into the line of fire!"

C: Yeah, blah blah blah, he's being so reckless. Subwaysurfersnatural is real, though. [G laughs]

G: Anyway, and Gordon is like, attacked by the vampire. I don't know why the vampire- oh, okay, I get it like. I was wondering like, “Why is the vampire attacking Gordon? Didn't he technically help him?” But like, he knows Gordon.

C: Yeah, 'cause Gordon killed his sister.

G: [laughing] It's literally like "music killed my grandma," but like, “Gordon killed my daughter” or something.

C: Wait, who killed her? Who killed whose grandma?

G: In Trolls?

C: In Trolls?

G: Yeah.

C: [laughing] I haven't watched Trolls.

G: It's the funniest thing! Like, there's this one guy, and like, the trolls love to sing and scrapbook and stuff like that. And then this one guy is like, “I don't want to sing,” and then they give his backstory, and the backstory is like, he was singing, and then his grandma- [both laughing] died.

C: Oh, god, you you know how the Cruella live action movie, Dalmatians killed Cruella de Ville's mother? [laughing] Like, a bunch of Dalmations ran her mother off of a cliff and her mom died?

G: "Dalmations killed my grandma," “music killed my grandma,” “Gordon killed my daughter.”

C: Yeah. [laughs]

-

G: Anyway, back in the motel room, we just have Sam, because, like, Dean is still out and, you know, getting shot at. And when Dean enters, Sam’s like, “Oh, thank god! Where have you been? What took you so long?” And then Dean makes a joke that's like, “Oh, yeah, I got some pie” or something. Good for him! It's a joke, right? Like, he didn't actually like, go out for a slice, or-

C: I don't know. Maybe he did.

G: You never know with this guy. Yeah. [both laugh] And then Sam berates him for doing the whole "go in front of the weapons." And then they start talking about Gordon and the fact that he's out of jail, and Sam asks, “How did he find us?” And Dean stops in his tracks and goes. “Oh my god!” And then he calls Bela.

C: Yeah! Bela!

G: And basically, Bela is like, super laughy like, “Ahaha, yeah, I gave your location to Gordon Walker. It's fine. For money.” And he's like, “Oh, you terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad person.” [C laughs] And then Bela says, like, “Oh, I mean, I was gonna call. I just got sidetracked. And also like, he's just one guy.” And Dean goes, “There were two of them,” and you could see Bela's face fall, which I thought was surprising. Like, does she actually care about the Winchester brothers? Who would've thought? I mean, they did save her life.

C: Yeah, it’s quite cute. Especially because, like, when she says, “Oh, yeah, I sold your location for money,” like, Dean doesn't seem that mad. But what she's like, “What was I supposed to do?” like, he seems mad that, like, she didn't call to warn him. Oh, well, she says, "He had a gun on me,” and like, Dean’s like, “Okay, that's fair enough. You should have just given us a heads-up.”

G: Yeah, anyway, Dean says that like, “If we make it out of this alive, the first thing I'm gonna do is kill you." And Bela’s like, “You're not serious,” and Dean goes, “Listen to my voice and tell me if I'm serious.”

C: What a fucking loser.

G: Like, he's really bumping down on her. And you know what? Something I realized in this scene: maybe I am a Bela apologist. [laughs]

C: Yeah, who's not a Bela apologist?

G: I don't know. People of IMDb are not.

C: That's true.

G: But I am, and this is a girlboss moment for her. And she redeems herself! So like, it's fine. Who cares? I am willing to admit all the mistakes-

C: Were we supposed to be mad at her for selling that information? It was literally fine, and she should have done it more.

G: I know. I'm willing to forgive Bela for her mistakes, which are nothing. She has never done anything wrong.

C: Yeah, exactly. Also, she looks genuinely scared after, like, Dean threatens her life. Which like, I don't know, honestly seemed a little excessive to me. Like, is Bela really that scared of the Winchesters? Maybe a little, but I don't know.

G: Maybe a little, but also, she should have known that they're not going to kill a human being.

C: I mean, they've threatened to-

G: A white girl. A white woman. [laughs]

C: - kill her once every two minutes that they've been around her. But yeah.

G: No, but were they actually trying to kill her?

C: No, but I feel like they would not- I mean they were going to kill her by omission by like, refusing their help.

G: Yeah, refusing to help, yeah.

C: So yeah.

-

C: So we cut to a warehouse where the vampire we saw earlier, who I don't think gets a- oh, no, wait, he has a name. It's like, Dixon, or something, right? Whatever. Who cares? So he's in the warehouse. Gordon is there, he's tied up, and what he sees around him: There's like, two young, attractive, blonde women who are like, chained up by their wrists. And yeah, it's just  such a stereotypical like, horror serial killer den. And I'm very sorry to these blonde women.

G: Yeah.

C: So right, the vampire comes in, and he starts feeding them blood. And yeah, Gordon talks with the vampire a bit. The vampire says that he considers these women family, and “I do what I have to. We're a dying breed.” I wasn't sure throughout this episode if we were supposed to feel sympathy for this guy. Because he has a whole monologue later, too.

G: Yeah, I don't think- We're supposed to see in him, in his desperation, the desperation Dean had when he sold his soul for Sam. Like, stuff like that.

C: Oh, interesting. I did not catch that.

G: Like, later, later he's like-

C: That's true, no that's true, very- Yeah, he was like, “I was desperate. Have you ever felt desperate before, Dean Winchester, when you sold your soul to save Sam?" [laughs] God, it's so fucking funny.

G: Yeah, that's what I was referring to. Yeah, oh my god.

C: Yeah. I just feel like if they wanted him to be sympathetic, like, they didn't have to have him specifically go after hot blonde women he clearly wanted to fuck. [laughs]

G: Yeah. [laughs]

C: Yeah. So right, he says, like, “I know you, Gordon, because you're like, one of the most prolific vampire hunters out there. Like, we're going extinct because of you.” And the whole time, Gordon's like, insulting him and insulting vampires. Yeah, the vampire does the whole like. “Oh, right like, we're so much worse than you, I'm sure, even though you guys killed a bunch of people, too.” Honestly, I'm getting a little bit tired of every single antagonist in an episode, being like, “You think we're so bad. But you are also just as bad.” It's just silly at this point.

G: Yeah, it's repetitive. But also, what if- consider this. A villain who was just bad, just because. And it wasn't like. “Oh, I'm bad, because you're bad, too, and we're bad together." Like, why can't you just accept that maybe you're an evil person, and then stop at that?

C: Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, like, why can't you just be like, “Yeah, I am bloodthirsty. Isn't that fun?”

So he reveals that Gordon, I think, probably apparently killed his daughter. Or like, just hunters in general killed his daughter, and I don't even know if Gordon was one of them.

G: [laughs] Yeah.

C: Yeah. And this guy refers to the blonde women he has chained up as his "new daughters," which again, very weird, because they're clearly like, the sexiest blondes he can find at this club.

G: Also, it's like, the, you know, we we saw him with that one blonde woman earlier, and that was not a daughter. [laughs]

C: Yeah, no. They were about to start humping each other.

So yeah, Gordon is also reluctant to believe this, but he calls these women “fangwhores.” So that's great. [both laugh]

Gordon, yeah, there's just more Gordon insulting vampires. He says something about like, how they spread their filthy disease on pure base instinct, which I feel connects to the way I feel like a lot of vampire media connects to serophobia. But yeah, the vampire is like, “Huh. Well, I've decided, because you're being so vampirephobic, that I am not going to kill you. I am going to do something that you will find worse.” And he turns Gordon into a vampire by like, pressing cuts on their arms together. And yeah, Gordon struggles and yells. He's not having a good time. But, alas! It has happened.

G: Yeah, his scream- like, he's screaming, “Noo!” And then it cuts to like, a whirring sound, to Dean sharpening his machete.

C: Yeah. That was-

G: How do you pronounce muh-sheh-tay? Is it like that?

C: It's muh-sheh-dee, I think.

G: Machete? [gayer voice] Machete. That's such a gay way to pronounce it. [C laughs] I think in Filipino, it's muh-sheh-tay, so like, I'm confused. But he's sharpening that. And I thought that transition was super cool. Like, I liked it.

C: Oh, yeah, it was. Yeah.

G: And Sam and Dean are trying to figure out what to do. Because the vampire is out there, but, like, Gordon, is also out there, so they can't kill the vampire if someone's out to kill them.

So Dean starts saying, like, “Well, if we find Gordon, you do know he's not giving us much of a choice, isn't he?" And Dean is like, “Yeah, let's go kill him."

C: Sam. Sam was like, “Yeah, let's go kill him."

G: Oh, yeah, Sam goes "Yeah, let's go kill him." [C groans] And Dean goes, "Oh, really? I thought you were gonna be- you would have been like-" and then he puts on a voice! Very Greycore. Very Greycore. He puts on a voice, and he's like, “I thought you were gonna be like, [higher-pitched] ‘No, we can't. He's human, it's wrong!’” [laughs] I found this so amusing. Good for him.

C: Yeah. I do find it annoying that they show Gordon being turned into a vampire before this scene happens because-

G: So like, you as the audience, you're like, “It's okay if they kill him because he's a vampire now!” But like, they didn't know that.

C: Yeah, they didn't know that, that's true. So it is still a moral decision that they have made, which is a bad one.

G: Yeah.

C: But I feel like we forgive- they did this so that the audience would forgive them faster because we know that he's not human anymore.

G: Anyway, Dean’s phone rings. It's Bela, and Bela is saying that she doesn't like it when she is being threatened by people. So she found Gordon's location. And how she did this by like, channeling someone, I think, or like a ouija board situation, right?

C: Yeah, uh-huh.

G: Where she like, connected with someone from the dead, and the person from the dead found out where Gordon is, which I thought was super fun. And she gives a location, kind of. A vague location, and like, some street signs or something. And then she said that the spirit also said, “Don't come for Gordon, no matter what." I found this so weird. Like, why would the spirit say that? What's the point?

C: I don't know. Maybe the spirit was like, “He's a vampire now, and it'll be hard for you to fight him”?

G: Why would the spirit care at all?

C: Yeah, I don't know who this spirit is.

G: Yeah. Maybe it's John Winchester. [both laugh]

C: At this point, the blonde women who were turned into vampires recently are still alive, right? So it's not their spirit. I get if it was their spirit, they'd be like, “This guy literally just gnawed my head off. Like, you should run.” But yeah, I don't think that's the spirit she channels. So I don't know.

G: Yeah, 'cause they're still alive at this point. Yeah. "Don't come for Gordon Walker."

C: Yeah, it was just to build suspense in the episode.

G: Yeah. And like, here, like, Gordon- we're back to the warehouse, and Gordon wakes up, and he's changed- chained, just like the other girls. And-

C: He's not like other girls. But he is like other girls.

G: He is like other girls in this situation. He's tied up, and there is like, a beating heart, and like, rushing of blood sound effect that's playing over the scene. So like, you're supposed to be in his consciousness, right? And he's like, struggling through the chains, and then he finally rips it out, and he starts to walk away when one of the girl goes, “Help us, help us.” And he- well.

C: It cuts.

G: It's a suspense, what happens. It cuts right after that.

But he goes out, into the street, and, like, we see him look at some lights, like, a street light, a neon sign, and it's like, way too bright. Way too bright. And then a car passes by, which I thought was like, Sam and Dean, but it's not. It's just some random-ass person. And those lights are too bright, and then he like, looks over to one side of the street, and there's a guy like, fixing a tire. And he like, looks at him with bloodlust, and like, repressed hunger.

C: Also, his eyes are really bloodshot in this scene. He does not look like he's slept well. And I feel like we didn't really see that with the other vampires.

G: I don't know.

C: Yeah, but maybe it's just a side effect of the light? Sensory overload king.

G: Yeah. And what he does is, he hops into the car of that guy, and then, when the guy finishes with the tire and hops into the car, he bites him and kills him. My thought here was like, "Why make him finish the tire?" [both laugh] Like, spare him the misery of changing a tire by killing him instantly.

C: Maybe Gordon took the car to drive to the RV?

G: That's a wonderful idea. And probably true.

C: Mm. But yeah, okay, like, I guess I sort of- like, I know that when you’re first turned, your hunger is very severe, so I guess I can excuse this first killing. But I do feel like Gordon would try very hard to have more control than he is having right now.

G: Yeah.

C: Yeah. I don't know. It's odd.

-

C: So we cut to the warehouse. Sam and Dean go in, and we see what happened to those two new vampires, 'cause their heads are gone, and original vampire guy’s on the ground crying and shit, and he's like, “Go ahead, just kill me.”

G: Yeah. I like the reveal of the of the beheaded girls.

C: Yeah.

G: I thought the the special- is it special effects? What's it called? Practical effects? Were very good this episode.

C: Yeah.

G: So, and I mean, the practical effects of Supernatural, especially in these early ones, are like, mostly good most of the time. It's the visual special effects that are like, “Well, that sucks.” But like, these ones are pretty good. So hats off again to the selling- I don't know. What the department is this? I guess this is the practical effects department .The props department, yeah.

C: Yeah. Though yeah, I do think that one thing to mention is that Gordon's like, victims throughout his arcs have been-

G: Yeah. Are white women.

C: - like, young, attractive white women, and that's like, a very specific thing like, Black men menacing a white woman is like, an image, used a lot of white supremacist literature and such. So yeah, I feel like the reveal was like, very fun in a suspense way, but like, they also did it like that to up the horror of Gordon.

G: Yeah.

C: So yeah, the vampire’s like, “Oh my god! Gordon was here, and he killed my daughters. I should have never brought a hunter here. Like, he killed my family.” And then Dean's like, “Oh, yeah, you're such a family man.”

G: And then it's the beginning of the most contrived monologue to ever exist [C laughing]. Most in your face monologue to ever exist.

C: [laughing] Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah, he's like, “No, you don't understand. I was desperate. Have you ever felt desperate?” And it cuts to Dean's face. “I've lost everyone I ever loved! I'm gonna like, live my whole eternity alone!” Cuts to Dean's face. [both laugh] Like, Jesus Christ.

Maybe this guy was like, “I've watched Supernatural, and I know the only way to maybe make it through an episode is to be a Sam or Dean mirror. [G laughs] So I'm gonna act my vampussy off trying to do this.”

Yeah, the vampire's like, “Just kill me. I don't care anymore. Like, I'm in hell. I'm in the worst. hell." Dean's like, "Well, the worst hell is the actual Hell that I'm going to because I felt desperate, lost everyone I ever loved, and stared down eternity alone." But yeah. And then Sam notices that for the bodies in the warehouse, the heads were ripped off with bare hands and not cut off, which means that Gordon suddenly has a lot more strength than he did before. And he goes, like, “Dixon, what did you do to Gordon?” And it cuts, and we never find out if they actually did kill Dixon, but like, they probably did, it just wasn't important to Sam and Dean's journey.

G: They probably did, yeah.

-

G: The next scene is [laughs] the Hannibal scene.

C: Yeah.

G: It's so good! I was watching it, and I was like, "They really acted in this scene. They were Acting, capital A." But basically, Kubrick is in the RV, where we saw him also, I think, [laughs] flirt with another guy a couple of episodes back. So there is a pattern with this guy. Too bad he's dead.

C: He has a Jesus painting next to him, of course.

G: Yeah. And then what happened was, he hears a sound outside, so he peeks out the window, but then he turns around, and Gordon is there, and he's like, “What happened to you? I thought they killed you.” Gordon says, like, “They did something worse. They turned me.” And they're so near each other! [laughs]

C: They're so fucking close.

G: They're so near each other. And Kubrick goes like, “I'm sorry about that, and you know what that means, right?"

C: He puts his hand on Gordon’s shoulder when he says, “I'm sorry.”

G: Yeah. And Gordon is like, “Yeah, it means you have to kill me, but not yet, because I still need to kill Sam Winchester.” And Kubrick is like, “Gordon. Come on, man, like, we can't do that. I can't let you walk out of here.” And Gordon insists that like, “This is the one last thing that I can do good in the world.” Ah, that sentence is not correct. “This is the one last time I can do a good thing for the world.” There we go. And throughout this, Gordon is like, looking at the crucifix [laughs], which is so funny! But he's looking at the crucifix, and he's like, “Yeah, I'm trying to do a good thing.” And then Kubrick is like, walking in the back, and he grabs a muh-sheh-tay. [gayer voice] Muh-sheh-tay. Muh-sheh-tay? Muh-sheh-tee. Machete. And he like, slowly paces to Gordon, and he's like, “Yeah, you're right. Yeah, it's one last good thing. I agree with you.” And we go to Gordon's  perspective where he hears the heartbeat and all that stuff. And then right as he's about to slice Gordon’s head off, Gordon turns around and inserts his hand through his heart.

C: Yeah. So good.

G: Wild. It's so good, and it's like, the way Kubrick dies is like, [laughing] they stare at each other for a little while.

C: Yeah. And he falls onto Gordon's shoulder.

G: And he falls onto Gordon's shoulder. And Gordon like, kisses his forehead, right?

C: He does?

G: Or did he turns his head in a way that made me think, like, "He's kissing his forehead!" And I was like, “Wow! Wow! Good for them." One of them is dead, but good for them.

C: And he goes like, "Sorry."

G: Yeah, he says.

C: Yeah, no. This is truly romance. What- like, Hannibal ate like, part- what part of Will did Hannibal eat?

G: I have no idea. I don't think that's true. I don't think he ate any part of him.

C: I thought there was a time when he, like, dug one of Will's organs out and ate it.

G: No! [laughs] No.

C: Maybe that's not true. I think he just force-fed Will their daughter's ear. Never mind. That's different.

G: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

C: Okay, yeah, anyway, Romance.

G: But this was literally reminiscent of the gutting scene from "Mizumono," which is the last episode of season 2 in Hannibal. Have you seen that?

C: I have not seen Hannibal.

G: You never watched, right? Yeah. Because it's too brutal for you.

C: I just like- they just don't seem very nice, you know? They don't seem like nice people. [both laughing]

G: Maybe Hannibal the cannibal is not a nice person. Have we considered that? [C laughs]

C: I just don't like that he killed their daughter. I just think that if you have a found family, you should be nice to each other. You can kill other people, but you should be nice to each other.

-

C: So they're back in the motel room. Sam and Dean are around, and Dean hasn't been able to find Gordon yet, and Sam goes like, “Hey, give me your phone, because if Gordon knows our numbers, then he can track us down.” And then it it looks like he's just going to take the SIM cards out. But actually he's just stomping on the phones. [both laughing]

G: Stomping with his giant foot on the phone.

C: Yup. And Dean comes back with the Colt, and he's like, “Sam. You stay here, and I'm just gonna go out and get Gordon.” And Sam goes like, “Uh, no, you're not going to do that alone, because you are going to die.” And Sam starts going worked up. He's like, "Oh, you're just acting like you have nothing to lose because you think you're already dead. [G laughs] I'm sick and tired of your kamikaze trip.” Yeah, Dean says, “I'm more like a ninja.” And Sam says, "That's not funny," and he's right. It's not a good joke. So yeah, Dean's all like, “What do you want me to do? I'm just gonna sit around and write sad poems?” And Sam goes like, “Dean, like, stop joking about everything and stop trying to act like you're not afraid, because I can see right through you.”

G: [laughing] And then, the corniest music starts playing-

C: [overlapping] It's some fucking sad piano music. I feel like if there wasn't this music, I might actually be a little tiny bit touched by this scene. [G laughs] But as soon as the music came in, I was like, "This is the silliest thing I have ever seen on the screen with my own two eyes.”

G: It literally is. It literally is.

C: It's sad piano music.

G: So silly!

C: And Sam goes, [dramatically] “I've been following you my entire life! I've been looking up to you since I was four, studying you, trying to be just like my big brother.” Sam would not fucking say that. Yeah, so he says, “I know you better than anyone in the entire world. And this is exactly how you act when you're terrified.” And he goes like, “I wish you would drop the show and just be my brother again.” And he starts tearing up a bit, and he says, like, "'Cause... just 'cause." And the puppy eyes have worked.

G: Yeah. Like, when he was saying like, "Just 'cause," I was thinking like, he said, like, "Because," and then, like, in my mind, my mind filled up the rest of the sentence with like, "We just have like, less than a year together." And so like, when he continued, like, "Just 'cause," and I was like, "Oh, he stopped himself from saying that." [laughs] Good for him.

C: Yeah. So Dean's like, "Okay, fine. We'll stay here." I- has Sam been looking up to Dean since he was four, wanting to be just like his big brother?

G: I mean, maybe.

C: I- yeah, I mean, I guess I'm the oldest, the older sibling, so I guess I don't understand Sam's position in the family as well, but-

G: I've never looked up to a sibling ever. [laughs] I don't know.

C: Yeah, I think my sister has looked up to me before a bit, but I think that was more our parents doing the whole like, "Why can't you be like Crystal?" thing. So.

G: Yeah, I don't know.

C: Do you think John ever did a "Why can't you be like Dean?" thing to Sam?

G: Yeah, maybe like, "Why can't you just be like, obedient just like Dean, the most obedient child in the world?"

C: Yeah. But I don't really think that's what Sam's saying here. Yeah, I don't know. But yeah, I did like these lines. Just, the music was so bad. Like, I don't know. I feel like we often think that the brothers don't like each other very much, and they probably don't, but they do know each other.

G: Yeah, maybe.

C: Maybe.

G: Do you think they know each other? [laughs] Do you think that's true? I think like, knowing someone is-

C: Well, growing up with someone means you sort of have to.

G: Yeah, but like, you know, like, who you are in front of people you differs, so like, I think there's still room for surprises in the both of them.

C: Oh, yeah, I agree.

G: Because they've only been interacting with each other for so long for like, for long periods of time, I think they know each other around each other. But I doubt that they know each other in terms of, you know, like, "What are you like when you're with somebody else?"

C: Yeah.

G: Which I think is also an important part of your personhood.

C: Yeah. I agree. I think maybe I'm having this reaction because I'm annoyed by like, the Deanfan posts that are like, "Sam will never understand Dean because when Dean's around Sam, all he does is like, act to try to be the perfect parent figure to Sam," blah blah blah.

G: That's untrue. [laughs] "The perfect parent figure for Sam." Sure. Why not.

C: Blah blah blah. Yeah, like, I feel like- first, Dean does not do that. I don't think he does. Second like, you can't spend like, 18 years with someone, like, every single day-

G: Pretending, yeah.

C: - and not, yeah, not trip up, like, at least like, ten-ish times. So, you know.

G: And also like, every single time you are a person, you are a real person.

C: Mm.

G: So like, even if you're like, faking it, you're still real in the faking. You know what I mean? So like, I think it's unfair to be like, "He's always faking." 'Cause like, if you're always faking, then that's just who you are.

C: Yeah.

G: So like, the argument doesn't fly. I support my idea better, which is "We're different people in front of different people," so like, you know, like, they know each other around each other. Like, for example, like, with Charlie later on, Dean is like, you know, very sweet and loving with Charlie in a different way than he is with Sam. So it's like, maybe Sam is surprised by that. You know, stuff like that. Because- blahblahblahblah. I got tired of explaining myself halfway through.

C: Well, yeah, I got it. You're right. Yeah. Also, I feel like is this sort of is a tiny bit of a reveal on like, for Dean, because I feel like we've like, we've seen him talking to Casey, for example, and he said that, like, you know, he's not really that scared because he's just tired. And I feel like we were supposed to think during "Sin City" that like, since he's not talking to Sam, he is being honest with this demon that he's just met. But, like, Sam knows that Dean is terrified. And maybe Dean thought he was being truthful when he was talking to Casey. But like, this is like, confirmation that he is definitely scared, whether or not he knows it.

G: Mm-hm. Yeah.

C: Yeah.

So Dean gets a call, and it's Gordon. And apparently, Gordon tracked them down- or he got the number because he could smell Dean over at the cell phone store because Dean bought a new phone after Sam smashed theirs. And Gordon says like, "You have to come to me because I have a woman who I have held hostage. And you have to come here in twenty minutes, or the girl will die." And Dean goes like, “Gordon, don't do this. You don't kill innocent people. You're still a hunter.” And Gordon goes, “No, I'm a monster.” And- [laughs] okay. [G laughs] This was the thing that Sterling K. Brown did not like. And Sterling K. Brown was right.

-

G: We have Sam and Dean going to the place/warehouse/factory/whatever it is. And they untie the lady, and they carry her out, and Dean is like, “Sam, stay close to me." And then, while they're walking out, Sam’s like, lagging behind, like, maybe three steps, max. And the moment Dean steps out of this, like, one room, the door from, like, you know, like, the thing they used to close up stores, it falls down and locks Sam inside and Dean outside. And all I could think of was-

C: What was Gordon's plan if Sam wasn't walking behind?

G: The thing I thought of was like, "How are they able to lock this?" Like, is it like, an automatic mechanism? Because it's so funny to me that they were like, "Oh my god, it fell! Let's try to kick it down." Like, why don't you try lifting it up? [laughs]

C: Yeah. [laughs] I don't know.

G: But they were having this time of their lives trying to kick down this metal door. Obviously, it's not working. So Dean is like, freaking out like, "Be careful, Sam! Be careful, Sam!" And then on Sam's side, the lights turn out. And Gordon starts speaking in like, the middle of the dark.

C: Yeah, he's so real for this. He's like, watched so many horror movies in preparation to make this as dramatic and cool as possible.

G: Yeah, it's like, Sam is like, "Get out of here, Gordon. I know you're here!" And Gordon's like, "I'm here," and then, like, Sam tries to swing the knife at him, and he's like, "Hahahaha!" Like, Gordon literally went, "Hahahaha." [both laugh] And yeah. So this is just what's happening. And basically, Gordon is saying, like, "I sacrificed everything to be here in front of you right now and like, get the chance to kill you." Gordon calls Sam like, "not human." And then Sam goes like, "Look who's talking." And then Gordon is like, "Well, I'm a bloodthirsty killer. But I guess that's one thing in common for the both of us." And he- and Sam says like, "You're not a bloodthirsty killer by instinct. You are by choice because you didn't attack that poor woman." And Gordon, says, "I didn't. I did something much worse." And then we cut back to Dean, who is fighting for his life, trying to open the door, and the girl has turned into a vampire and is trying to attack him. And he shoots her with the Colt?

C: Yeah.

G: Which feels very like, "I don't want to deal with this. I don't want the extra gore. Let's just use the Colt." That's something Sera Gamble said. She literally said it. She put it in the script. "I don't want the extra gore. Let's just use the Colt."

C: Yeah, or maybe the props team was like, "We've made too many corpses for this episode. I don't like, want to do another headless body. Can we just shoot her?"

G: Exactly. And Gordon says like, "I know you, Sam. I can see right through you. We're the same. And it's too bad, because you won't do the right thing, which is kill yourself." [both laugh]

C: Gordon's on a Reddit forum replying, "Kill yourself" to Sam Winchester.

G: He's flooding Sam Winchester's messages so much right now. "Kys kys kys." [C laughs] Yeah. And he says like, basically, "It's what I'm gonna do after I'm done with you. It's a shame that you wouldn't do it for yourself, so now I have to be the one to do it."

And then, we start seeing, like, the place from Gordon's perspective. So it's like, red tint, 'cause it's like, dark, right? So like, for Sam, it's just dark, and for Gordon it's like, red, and like, he sees Sam clearly, and then he attacks. And they fall out of the wall? Like, the wall collapses?

C: Yeah. Something.

G: The wall collapses, and they're fighting for their lives. And Dean comes in and starts attacking Gordon, and Gordon like, actually bites Dean, so Dean is all bloody. And then I don't know what happens next. But what eventually happens is Sam- ties a cord around Gordon's neck, and it's such a long scene.

C: Yeah.

G: This is such a long scene. He like, pulls the cord to opposite directions and like, strangles Gordon, until the head gets cut off.

C: Yeah, it's pretty excruciating.

G: Yeah, and like, I'll finish this scene first and then we'll talk about it. And then Dean like, recovers from his neck biting situation, and he's like, "Wow! You just killed a super vamped-up Gordon with no weapons." And then he like, cracks a little bit of a, "That's a bit reckless, huh?"

C: It's such a stupid joke.

G: So stupid.

C: Sam did not choose to be in that situation. Right, also, I feel- after Sam kills Gordon, like, they put in like, extra shots of like, Gordon's headless body; Gordon, like, Gordon's head on the ground, letting out a last breath. And it's like, it's not good to look at.

G: Yeah, here's the thing. I- actuall,y me and Crystal. We're talking about this earlier. [laughs] Why am I suddenly talking about you like you're not here? But we were talking about this earlier, and I said like, "Something I find-" 'cause a part of this scene that you're supposed to feel is, "Oh, Sam is vicious. Sam, like, maybe he is different." Like, that's something that I think you're- not, even though it's not explicitly said, it's something you're supposed to think. I just find it fascinating- and by fascinating, I mean, "Oh my god, Supernatural," that like, they keep on doing this specifically to Black men. Like, it's always like, "Sam is vicious. Sam is like, a different person." But every single time, like, the victim is Black men. Like, they do it with- what's his name?

C: Jake.

G: They do it with Jake, and now they're doing it with Gordon, and it's like, both of these deaths are so visceral and so violent in comparison to a lot of other deaths in the show. And it's just like- Crystal, say the thing that you said to me after I said this earlier.

C: Oh, it was- yeah. They were like, "Well, we have to show that Sam's going off the deep end, but we can't make him irredeemable. So let's just have him kill a Black man!" Ugh.

G: Yeah, it very much has that vibe? And it's quite frustrating.

And also, let's talk about- because this is the last we see of Gordon. Obviously, he's dead. But I think we've already said before that like, his characterization, you know, a lot of people have said it probably better than we will, but, like, his characterization, is like, racist.

C: Yeah. [laughs]

G: But, like, specifically, the way the arc ended. What are your thoughts on it?

C: I feel like- I do feel like a lot of the stuff that I'm bothered with with Gordon come from earlier. The way that they set him up to be like- "he's fantasy racist in this world without real racism, or this world where we've refused to acknowledge actual racism." And the way that like, they set him up to be like, this evil, vicious hunter in order to make Sam and Dean look better, which is fucking annoying. And yeah, I guess I was thinking in the shower earlier today, like, in the world where, like, Gordon is the main character of Supernatural like, he like, would get a season where you know he's shown as this badass hunter, but he's like, not very- he doesn't really distinguish between like, creatures that can or can't control themselves, and like, stop hurting people. And then, like, him being turned into a vampire would be an opportunity for him to go through character growth by like, understanding how hard it is to resist the bloodlust, but also understanding the amount of like, reason and sentience he still has, and like, I don't know. I feel like if they wanted to turn Gordon into a vampire, they didn't- but they did it here, just so that they could kill him without feeling bad about it.

G: Exactly.

C: Even when there were like, a lot of narrative opportunities to develop him as a character, they just did it so they could get rid of him

G: Exactly. Like, that's the crux of it. They turned him into a vampire so that they can excuse murdering him. That's literally it. And the thing is, again, like, you said, like, a lot of the things that I don't like about Gordon, what happens to Gordon in this episode are actually like, considerably very little things. Like, for example, like, if you are going to turn him into a vampire, why not acknowledge his backstory? Like, we've said this before, like, it's such an integral part of his character, and it's one of the very first things we learn about him. So why not bring it up now? And it's like, it's frustrating in that way. Because if they really wanted it to end this way, then, fine, you know? It started on a bad note. If they want to like, cut it off- I mean like, the story and the character, then, like, okay, fine. But you could have done it better, and you could have like, acknowledged that he is so person with like, a backstory that you already gave him. Like, you're not even inventing a new one. You've already given it to him. And you can have him- just have, like, very little character growth, you know?

C: Yeah.

G: And it's frustrating that they were like, "No, we just want to get rid of him, and we don't want the audience to think much about it that like, maybe that's wrong of us."

C: All his dialogue is like, "I'm incapable of change, and I'm a monster, and you should definitely come kill me." Like, okay. Cool.

-

C: So we're at the epilogue, which is a pretty good scene, but unfortunately happens in this episode.

G: Completely disconnected.

C: Yeah, no total tone shift. Like, it starts with them just like, chilling out, and Sam just like, getting a beer out of a cooler. Like, neither of them seem to feel that they have committed a brutal act of murder like, five minutes ago.

Yeah, so Dean has the Impala's hood open, and he's poking around in there, and he asks Sam to pass him a wrench, and then he thinks for a second, and he goes like, "Sam. Like, come over here for a second." And he starts sort of like, teaching Sam on how to fix the Impala. Like, he's saying, "These are the things that could be causing the rattle. Here are like, the parts. Look, that's a valve cover."

G: Wow.

C: Yeah, he quizzes Sam a little bit about what the parts' names are. It's quite sweet. And then Sam goes like, "Hey, like, why are you like, teaching me auto shop?" And Dean like, hands the wrench over and tells Sam that, "Hey, like, you should be the one to fix it." And Sam is surprised at this because he says, "Dean, you barely let me drive this thing," which is a new development! [G laughs] In season 1, Sam was allowed to drive the fucking Impala, but whatever.

G: Yeah. But only in relevant moments where he gets to stop the car in the middle of the road and storm out.

C: Yeah, he's so real for that. Next time, he should take the keys as he does it. [G laughs]

G: To leave Dean stranded? So real.

C: Yeah. And Dean goes, "Well, like, it's time. You should know how to fix it, because you should know these things for the future." So they both sort of pause and feel emotions, and then he goes, "And besides, it's my job to show my little brother the ropes." And I feel like you sort of expect Sam to argue or like, say something else about the deal.

G: But he doesn't!

C: Yeah, he doesn't. He just nods, and he starts fixing up the car. And yeah. There they are. End ep.

G: Okay. Ep ends in that note.

-

G: Okay, I have a question for you. Do you think all this like, fanfare about "Dean is going to Hell," and the fact that we have it for one whole fucking season... Maybe- I'm trying to think positive. Maybe this is like, a good thing, because, like, when Dean gets resurrected from Hell, it feels like an even bigger deal.

C: Right.

G: Have we considered that? [laughs]

C: That's true. It does make Cas cooler.

G: Yeah, it makes Cas cooler. Because, yeah. That's- yeah.

C: I do think that it's helpful in the lead-up to season 4 as well because you sort of understand how much grief Sam is going through right now, and how much he would have gone through during the summer when Ruby came over-

G: Yeah, okay.

C: - and just led him into hot demon blood land. [G laughs] Yeah. But also, you know, it'd be nice to have a different B-plot conversation sometimes. [G laughs]

G: Yeah. It's fascinating, because, like, literally in season 2, they just dip regarding plot, and then they resurface the plot. And now it's like, "Here's the plot of the episode. And now, here's the plot of the show." And it's just, "Okay, cool." Sometimes, though, I miss the monster of the week that's just- that's good, you know? I feel like there's no good monsters of the week this season 3 so far.

C: Well, I liked the changelings.

G: Oh, that's right! That is a monster of the week. Yeah. I think you're right, that one is good. But it feels so far away now. It feels so long gone.

C: Yeah.

G: Yeah. So, Best Line/Worst Line.

C: Oh, geez.

G: I think my worst line is like, the daughter line. [C laughs] Like, "They're my daughters." I was like, "Okay, bro."

C: Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Alright, buddy.

Right, I guess maybe my worst line is like, "I was desperate. Have you ever been desperate?" [both laughing]

G: "Have you ever been desperate?" Yeah.

C: Yeah. But also didn't like Gordon's like, "No, I'm not a hunter anymore. I'm a monster!" Like, okay, bro. Okay. And by "bro," I mean Sera Gamble.

G: I think my best line is probably- should I go the gay route and say that it was the "sorry" when Gordon killed-

C: That was pretty gay. That was pretty good.

G: Yeah. What's his name, even? [laughs] I've forgotten Kubrick's name. Kubrick. So yeah. I like, that line because it like, you know, it's nice. Good for them. Somebody just died.

Also, I want to point out, I forgot to say it earlier, but like, in the scene where Gordon is calling Dean, he lifts his fingers- his hands is lifted up, right? And you can see that his fingers are like- you know how like, when you get manicured and they're pink? It looks like, that because of the blood from like, gripping Kubrick's heart.

C: Ooh.

G: Which is like, super fun.

C: He didn't wash it off entirely-

G: Well enough, yeah.

C: Yeah. So real. God. Do I have a best line? Maybe I should just go with yours. [G laughs] I'll go with yours.

G: Okay. So yeah, that's- That's not it. We still have to do our worksheet. No, not worksheet. Spreadsheet.

C: Spreadsheet, yeah. Right. Okay, so we have misogyny and racism. I think that both of these things are relevant this episode. I think misogyny not too high.

G: Yeah. Because the women don't have speaking roles? [laughs]

C: I'd say a 1. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah.

G: One woman speaks in this- two women speak in this episode, and one of them literally just says, "Help me!"

C: Yeah. So is that a one or two?

G: I think maybe it's a one.

C: Alright. Racism, it's- Okay, yeah, so we go from 1 to 5. It's- should we sort of consider the entire Gordon arc altogether in this rating, or-

G: You know what? I don't know. Because- I feel like we we shouldn't. Let's just consider this episode.

C: Okay. Right. I feel like the whole Gordon is probably a five. I feel like this episode alone, a bit lower. Four-ish?

G: Maybe 2, 3?

C: Oh, three. Okay.

G: Add three, yeah.

C: Okay, we can go with 3.

G: 'Cause like, we're also consider- like, even though we're not considering the whole arc, it's still influenced by the whole arc. So like, you know, like, a 3, I think, is reasonable.

C: Okay. And I don't think we have any homophobia- [G laughs]

G: Do we really put the homophobia in? Is that for real?

C: [laughing] Because of "Bedtime Stories," we added a homophobia column.

G: What even happens in the episode?

C: "Dude. Could you be any more gay?"

G: Oh my god, yeah! It was that episode. Goddamn.

Okay, so, IMDb rating. I would say, this is probably rated- I have no idea how this is rated.

C: Yeah. I feel like this is probably middling.

G: Maybe an 8.3?

C: Yeah, yeah, that seems about right. I'm gonna guess maybe an 8.4 from the IMDbers?

G: Okay. I'm clicking! I can't see it. Hold on! I have to rotate my iPad.

C: Your iPaddy [EYE-pa-dee]?

G: It's an 8.4, you're right! My iPady. You're mispronouncing it. It's eye-puh-DEE.

C: Your eye-puh-DEE. I'm sorry! Your iPady.

G: [laughing] For context, I call my iPad "iPady" in front of only myself and Crystal because I'm too embarrassed to call it iPady in front of literally anyone else.

C: It's your friend!

G: [laughing] I call my laptop "lappytoppy." [both laugh]

C: I say lappytoppy sometimes.

G: It literally sounds like sloppy toppy, which is so funny. [C laughs]

C: Uh, okay, yeah, 8.4 definitely too high for this one. Let's see what takes people have.

Sorry. [laughing] Someone called this "the fluffiest episode so far"? [both laughing]

G: You ever decide that you want some fluffiness in your life, and then you watch this episode, and you go, "That's sufficient!"

C: Okay, someone said that "I don't know what is the writers' problem with female characters on the show. They start them out as interesting, and then go mess the characters up over the course of the events." And then they said, "The Bela story is getting ridiculous, with her using the boys in a way that makes them looking like morons."

G: Well, they are.

C: "But I'm willing to get over this." Yeah, they are. Yeah, I mean, I agree with the first part, but I don't see how that connects. I don't know what they dislike about the Bela story.

G: Yeah, I also have no idea.

C: It ends with, “Oh, Dean, how can you just be so great? Okay, I know it's the crazy fangirl in me talking right now.”

G: It literally is. [both laughing]

So yeah, I think that's it for this episode of Busty Asian Beauties. Next week, we will be discussing Season 3, Episode 8: “A Very Supernatural Christmas.” Bit early, but we're doing it. Leave us a rating or a view wherever you get your podcasts.

C: [muddled] Follow us on- [spits] blargh! [G laughs] Follow us on social media! We are on Twitter at twitter.com/BeautiesPodcast and on Tumblr at bustyasianbeautiespod.tumblr.com. Our official tag is #BABPod, B-A-B-POD, and thank you to everyone who has donated to our Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/bustyasianbeautiespod.

G: You can email us any feedback, comments, or feedback at bustyasianbeautiespod@gmail.com. See you guys next time, buh-bye!

C: Bye!

[guitar music]

[krisiverse]

Hey same anon here. So... no offence but do you think people who ship something slightly controversial are going to just not interact with the rest of the fandom at all? I'm sure you're set in believing it's a bad ship but I really don't think everyone who ships it is a Bad Person on principle. Like them putting shipping in a separate blog with a similar url to their main is probably not them being secretive to get around dni's. Because this just in, anyone can get around dni's by ignoring them...

Shippers of controversial ships keep things separate from their main account usually to avoid subjecting people who don't want to see something to that thing, and to avoid getting hate/being called out, which is what you're doing....

Also, I don't think everyone who ships one lesbian cousin inc*st ship is inherently a proshipper... Most fans of the ship are just regular splatoon fans who contribute a lot to the fandom. I would know, a lot of people in the notes on your post have supported posts from an explicitly aohota blog

Also respectfully, I guess you want to warn people of someone shipping it but I think people can make that judgement call on their own... Filling the tag which is already separate from the main fandom tags with hate and putting individuals on blast seems more harmful than shipping fictional characters imo

hi im going to address these points one by one and out of order, im tired today

actually, you make a good point with it being put in the ship tags, i'll fix that. regardless of everything else i know how much it sucks to go into a tag for something you like and be met with hate for it

second um... incest shippers ARE proship by definition, because it means pro- ships that involve incest or pedophilia or both. there are probably other things that fall under that definition but those are the two big ones, so im sorry to say that is literally what it means

the point of a dni is that you enforce it by blocking people. there's actually been a history of people making blogs like that for the purpose of evading blocks- the main example i can think of is terfs making innocent-seeming main blogs with the express purpose of infiltrating trans-positive communities who would otherwise block them on sight. the fact that people in the notes have interacted with callie/marie shippers is exactly what i was trying to alleviate with that post, because the tags are obscure enough that a lot of people may not know what it means & interact unknowingly.

do i think everyone who ships problematic content is a "bad person"...? no, not really. they're often perfectly nice and kind and all that. but do i think they should keep to themselves and stay out of the larger splatoon community, besides others who are pro- or neutral to these kinds of ships? well... that WOULD be pretty unreasonable to ask, wouldn't it? but the thing is... someone being proship puts all those interactions into a different light. i shouldn't have to worry, if i make a post about callie and marie, that someone is going to interpret it sexually. i shouldn't have to worry if i make a post about one of them individually that someone is going to take it and apply it to their romantic/sexual dynamic of the two. it's something that makes me extremely uncomfortable, and it's a boundary i can only enforce by blocking (since as you said people can simply ignore dnis.)

which brings me to my last point... y'all have your space, which I unthinkingly put hate in and for that i'm genuinely sorry, but we have our own boundaries which we can ONLY enforce via dnis and/or blocking. the only thing we can really do to keep our space our own is to block, both the tags and the people that post in them, and that's all i told people to do; obviously i can't actively force anyone to block people, that's just my suggestion to keep them from unknowingly interacting bc other posts from people will show up even if they have the tag filtered.

i called out that particular person in the tags because they stood out to me, with the experience i'd had with the two blogs; also because i couldn't really name other active members of the community, seeing as i have nearly everyone there blocked already. my intention is to spread awareness, not to incite harassment, and if they're getting harassed (or if you'd like to avoid that possibility) i can delete those tags, likely instead putting them as part of a larger blocklist rather than focusing on one person. but again, that one person stood out to me and i wanted to prevent others from having the same experience.

i think that's all for rn, thank you for the ask and your understanding. feel free to send more asks, or if the person in question would like to talk to me directly, i would be willing to unblock them to have a discussion if they so choose