#WE COULD HAVE HAD IT AAAAALLL

[iovesentry]

fade into you | joaquin torres x reader

summary: you and joaquin have been pining over each other for months now, and almost everyone around you are getting sick of how oblivious you both are. one unlucky day ensued where you spilled your coffee on the way to sams place, joaquin offers you new clothes—and they smell like him.

warning(s): smooching in the compound oopz, some curse words heh, idiots in love, they’re so oblivious its so painful, sam has had enough of them lol.

A/N: hiya everyone! thank u so much for the support over my past works. i’m so glad a lot of you are enjoying them as much as i do! i luv u aaaaalll! <3

it was another ordinary day in the middle of summer. the sun is out, the birds are chirping, and the ambience is peaceful. you got woken up by your alarm, checking your phone to see the time and thankfully you woke up just in time. sam had asked you to help him out and lessen his workload, you agreed. of course. because it meant you could see joaquin.

you’ve both been pining over each other since the day you met and are doing nothing about it. sam was getting frustrated since it is painfully obvious that the feelings are mutual, he sometimes wishes he could hit you both in the head real hard to make you both realize.

getting ready to go to the compound, you decided to stop by and grab a coffee, needing all the energy you could get since today would be a busy day. you were met by your favorite barista and ordered your usual coffee order.

after getting your coffee, you headed back into your car. shuffling through your bag to put back your wallet, coffee in hand and the other unlocking your car. almost getting to your car, a rushing customer accidentally ran into you. your newly brewed coffee was now all over you instead of inside your cup. and to make things worse, the guy just apologized and went inside the store, leaving you in a coffee-soaked top.

by the time you got to the compound, it was nearly 20 minutes later. you rush to sams office and apologize for being late, having to explain the soaked shirt and pants. knocking on his door, you heard a muffled ‘come in’.

“hey– whoa, what the hell happened to you?” his eyes scanned over the current state you’re in, clearly hiding back a grin.

“some douche ran into me in the coffee shop and didn’t even bother buying me a new one.”

in the middle of you explaining to sam, you didn’t even hear the door creak open. joaquin heard of your arrival and hurried to sams office, knowing he’d find you there. but of course, he didn’t want to admit to anyone else that the reason he went to sams office was to see you. he knew you were here for work, to help sam with his pending workload.

“cariño, you’re here.” the nickname rolled off his tongue too smoothly, always getting called ‘cariño’ by joaquin occasionally.

you turned your body towards him, letting him see your soaked shirt—grimacing. he walked towards you and said your name, “what the hell, you’re soaked,”

you jokingly opened your arms for a hug to see his reaction, but for some reason he was actually gonna go in for a hug too. pulling back, you saw his face turn confused, almost like he was hurt you didn’t hug him.

“wait— were you actually gonna hug me like this, quino?”

“well… yeah, why not. then we can both be soaked in coffee.” now that earned him a laugh from you. the laugh he always loved and adored despite you saying otherwise.

“torres, go get her a shirt.” sam quickly interrupted you both, he just wished you would see that joaquin clearly loves you, and that you love joaquin too.

“right yeah. come, i’ll get you a shirt.” heading towards the door, you quickly mouthed to sam a quick ‘brb’ and followed joaquin. unbeknownst to you, sam was grinning the entire time watching you both leave.

you were now outside joaquins room, making you remember that you’ve actually never seen or been inside his room. this thought alone excited you, wanting to see if his room actually feels like his room. safe to say you were correct. his room was neatly decorated with some posters, some plane figurines—you assumed it was from his time from the air force—it was exactly like joaquin.

you walked over to his wall that was filled with photos that were framed, spotting a picture of him and sam, his family, and a picture of the both of you from the night you cant forget. it was the night he took you out on a ‘friendly date’ after your date stood you up. you told him it wasn’t necessary, and that you were used to it, but he insisted anyways.

“cariño c’mon. there’s this new restaurant that opened and i heard they have strawberry drinks, i know how much you love strawberries. please?” he pleaded, even saying that it’s his treat. he took your hands in his and looked at you with so much adoration—you’d be one evil fucker to say no.

you nodded, playfully rolling your eyes at him. his grip on your hand tightened as he led you to his car, the biggest smile on both your faces. he drove you both to the resto, ordering what you wanted.

“wait, i’m gonna go get something in the car,” you nodded, following his figure going to the car. when he came back he his SONY camera in his hands, probably filled with pictures he takes on trips and missions.

“smile for me, cariño,” he brought his camera up to his eye and quickly angled the camera to take a picture of you. you fixed up your hair and posed for the camera, doing your signature kissy face and wink. he was looking at the picture a little too long–it made you nervous. did you look bad? was there something wrong with your hair, or face?

“you look beautiful, cariño,” joaquins voice snapped you out of your negative thoughts, blushing over his words. you hoped he couldn’t see the blush creep all over your cheeks, though knowing the lights are showering you both from above, he probably could.

“stop that,” immediately getting shy from his compliment, you covered your face with your hands, dipping your head down onto the table, “what? it’s true look, you look so pretty.” lifting your head up to look at the picture, you did look pretty.

“see? pretty.” he had a ‘i told you so’ look on his face that always makes you scoff playfully. “move aside, let’s take a picture.” he moved aside and you accompanied him to his side of the booth. taking the camera from him, you directed it towards the both of you, joaquins arm flinging around your shoulders, both your faces too close to each other.

you clicked the button and heard the camera shutter. the picture immediately flashed on the camera screen, your heart fluttering at the adorable photo.

you quickly got snapped out of your daydream, feeling joaquin tapping your shoulder, a shirt in his hands.

“here. i can leave the room while you change, i’ll wait outside.” he handed you the flannel shirt and left his room, leaving you alone with your thoughts, and a shirt that has his scent lingering on. you wasted no time and quickly changed. your coffee-stained white blouse was quickly discarded and thrown on the floor while you buttoned the flannel. it was comfy and smelled like joaquin—he’s not gonna get this shirt back anytime soon.

picking up your blouse from the floor, you headed towards the door, glacing at the picture again. joaquin was right outside, waiting for you like he told you. his eyes scanned your figure, getting flustered over how good you look wearing his shirt, almost like he’s marking his territory.

you’ve always wondered what would happen if you confessed to joaquin, he also wondered the same thing. everyone around you both were growing frustrated over how blind and oblivious you and joaquin were. you were now walking back to sams office, getting weirded out when you realized joaquin was walking slow and was unusually quiet.

you were snapped out of your thoughts when joaquin spoke, “cariño i like you,” now that made you stop in your tracks, facing him—bewildered. his gaze was full of adoration, nervousness, and love. a minute of silence probably passed before you spoke.

“i… i like you too, quino. shit, i’ve liked you since forever, since the day we met, since that night in the resto.”

“i remember that night all too well. i thought– i thought that was it, that was the night i’ll tell you about my feelings. every time i’m with you i feel like i could just fade into you completely, you make me the happiest man in the world and you don’t even know it.”

his confession ignited butterflies in your stomach, a red tint creeping up on your cheeks. his eyes darted from your gaze to your lips—his gaze full of love and lust, remembering they’re reserved for you.

you didn’t even realize the distance between the both of you have completely closed off, bodies against each other. your faces were inches away before you backed away, but joaquin had enough of it.

he kissed you so passionately—like he was a starved man and your kiss was the only solution to his hunger. taken aback at his action, you eventually melted into his touch, kissing him back just as passionate.

“we shouldn’t be doing this here, quino,” speaking in between kisses, you tried to pull away, but joaquin chased your lips, yearning for more. “to my room again, then?” you smiled at his comment, both of you breathless in the middle of the hallway in the compound, probably with cameras around too.

“as much as i’d love to, i have work to finish and sam is gonna kill me if i don’t come back.” you went in for one last kiss, this time it was gentle and soft. as you tried to pull away, joaquin cupped your face and peppered small kisses all over, resulting in you turning into a giggling mess.

“this is gonna have to continue later, pretty boy. i got work to do.” you patted his cheek and walked away, heading back to sams office to start the paperworks.

“did you both take 15 minutes to grab one singular shirt or did a makeout session occur?” sams comment caught you off guard, and he had the audacity to laugh at your reaction. rolling your eyes at him, you smiled to yourself as you remembered the kiss, still feeling joaquin on yours.

damn you couldn’t wait to finish all this paperwork up.

[thankchaosforspellcheck]

I take your "Noelle is the real 2nd hero" theory & raise you "Lancer is the real 3rd hero".

1. He is actually able to be confirmed as coming from a royal lineage (since his mom is definitely The Queen & his dad is definitely The King) while Ralsei's background is still a mystery.

2. He helps us during almost every chapter, in spite of turning to stone during all the adventures past chapter 1.

3. He might not have a cloak, but that could easily be a Final Form situation, and it's not like Ralsei's has been seen past chapter 1 either.

Okay, do i have your attention? Great! Time to get serious:

I think some of the folks in the town were purposefully setting things up to match the prophecy.

It's too heavy of a coincidence. Noelle & Dess matching up to the 2nd hero's descriptions, Kris being the only human (as far as we know) in town & getting possessed. Kris purposefully encouraged to come back by Carol, in spite of aaaaaall the pranks & rebellion they had pulled around her as a kid. Yeah she might just care about maintaining a connection (since Kris' mom clearly has a lot of influence around town & Carol has something on Asgore) but she definitely gives the vibe that she knows very well what is going on with Kris.

And Ralsei? Who knows aaaaalll about the prophecy and the contents, despite living seemingly alone for so long?

I really don't think he is planning anything at this point, but Darkeners ARE influenced by Lightener's desires and beliefs, so if someone wants that prophecy it's entirely within the realm of possibility that they just... made sure to have an old toy of Kris' or an object they knew would be important around while they read out the prophecy. Filled it with their beliefs. And then placed it back down where it could be taken by the Dark Fountain and turned into our local beloved fluffy boy.

I DO think Susie was a curveball. Carol wasn't happy at ALL with her appearance, and even the start was a bit confused, with her (and Lancer THATS RIGHT THE THEORY IS BACK BABY-) acting as an antagonist for a good chunk of the first chapter, but this prophecy is implied to be incredibly old. Old enough that monsters clearly have a religion around it! Things could easily get warped and changed over time to fit a more palatable narrative. So really, it could go either way! Maybe they all ARE the real Heros and have to deal with the responsibilities that come with that...

Or maybe it's all been manufactured, and it's been doomed to fracture and shake off the rails from the start.

[crystalas]

Dad Alliance: flying high

Solar had only meant to be gone for a minute to get something before the Play Date could begin, the plan was to paint and decorate the door plates and food bowls that the children had made at the last visit to Eclipse’s dimension.

He was supposed to just grab some glitter glue from the gift shop but he was then held up by some calls from parts and service; apparently a mop bot had taken the phrase ‘wash your mouth out with soap’ a little too literally. After ten minutes of walking the humans through some of his upgraded programmes he may or may not have added out of sheer boredom he then walked back into the daycare…

The only one in there was Jack who sat in the middle the ball pit island looking up forlornly, Solar followed Jack’s line of sight upwards and gave an audible gasp of horror.

Floating above the ball pit was the rest of the children, Jake was sitting upside down on the bottom half of the tower’s stage while Andy and Charlie helped Dazzle fly by holding her hands, Andrew was floating a little off a playset watching this all unfold.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Solar shouted; they all turn to look at him.

“Join us Solar…we aaaaalll float here” Andrew called with a creepy grin.

“How are you even doing that?!”

“We’re ghost kids and Charlie is magic not that hard of a leapt of logic, surprised we could still do this with bodies though” Andrew stated as he put himself on a reclining seating position as if he was sitting on a beach chair.

“I try to not question this sort of stuff” Andy said as Dazzle giggled while doing a barrel roll towards Solar.

“Look Uncle Solar I’m like Wendy from Peter Pan!”

“Please come down if Sun sees you up there, he’ll blue screen for sure!” Solar begged reaching up for her but she just floating out of his grasp.

“But this is fun” she whined.

“Come on Solar think about it, this is good practise for us. What better way to escape bad guys than just flying away?” Charlie explained flying down to him “We decided to try it here cos you have nets and everything is padded up and if we do fall it’ll be in the ball pit”

Solar really wished he had a counter argument to that but couldn’t think of one that would convince them, so he gave a heavy sigh.

“Fine but you can only fly in here and only when an adult is present agreed?” he decreed and the children nodded in agreement before floating off to see who could fly the fastest round the daycare. Solar looked down at Jack who gave an unhappy sigh as he watched from below.

“I miss my wingies” he mumbled.

Solar gave him a sadden look, when the Creator kidnapped Jack he had somehow disabled Jack’s ability to transform. He had told Jack that his main form was enough for his duties but Solar would bet his tool box that it was because the Creator did not want to risk Jack stumbling across a form that was immune to dark Star power.

Solar walked back to the security desk and inputted a few commands and a cable whirred to life and scrolled down next to Jack, he prodded it a bit and then looked back at Solar.

“Moon used to be able to fly too you know?” Solar said as he connected the hook to Jack’s back and the USB cable to a port so Jack could control the wire, “It’s not magic or wings but it should be enough”

“THANKS DAD!” Jack shouted and leapt into the air doing the same swimming swinging motion moon once did, the children giggled as he approached and Dazzle held his hands as they started to fly about pretending to be the Lost Boys looking for treasure and then played follow the leader and act like they were all in a rollercoaster complete with loop-de-loops and drops.

Solar could not help but noticed that as the hours went by, they were getting better, before the ghost kids were slowly floating like unsteady balloons now, they were angling their bodies and dipping and swerving with some amount of success. They were by no means hawks or fighter jets level of fast or skill but they were improving. Solar was making notes on how to introduce obstacles or to practise fast take off as Charlie had stated this would be a good way for them to avoid dangers. Hard for this mimic guy to harm them if they shot off like rockets.

Sun walked with in with a tray of snacks, he placed them on the security desk before looking around the Daycare.

“Where are the kids? In the playsets?” he asked, Solar did not answer just pointed up. Sun did indeed look up to see Dazzle floating above him giggling.

“Hi daddy!” she beamed.

Sun fainted.

A.N I have noticed that Jack has not used his transformations since he has returned, this is me just filling in the blanks.

[the-unnamed-haven]

The Kingdom of Death

Chapter 4: A Good Day For a Crusade

So, full disclosure: there's a part of this I submitted to a friend of mine for review, and he suggested some changes that I ended up going along with. So, credit where it's due: the, ah... "speech" that happens in this chapter wasn't written entirely by me. Unfortunately, this friend of mine doesn't have any socials I can plug, so I can't direct you to any of their stuff, but I'm shouting them out anyways!

Okay, enough of that, time for a show!

Baal was brimming with excitement.  The circumstances were less than ideal, but this was hardly a drawback.  Seeing Leandros again would be cause enough for celebration, but being given the chance to tear Heretics asunder at his side as well?  It would be quite difficult for things to improve.

Halfway down the stairwell, however, Baal noticed the grim expression on his brother’s face.  Most wouldn’t perceive this as any different from Aym’s normal expression, but Baal knew his brother well enough to know the difference.  “What’s on your mind, brother?”  His tone remained upbeat, but held a genuine concern.

“...Our battle strategy is sound.  Whatever the Master intends, he will surely foil these assassins.”  Aym said, betraying a hint of concern.

“Buuuuut…”

“I cannot ask the Master to act on nothing more than a gut feeling.  But I cannot shake this idea that we’re missing something.  These are the tactics of a trained strategist.”  Aym turned to Baal with a stern expression.  “You know what I’m implying, yes?”

Baal placed his hands behind his head.  “So we’re dealing with a proper army.  What of it?  Whoever these people are, they can’t hope to match the Crusaders.  You know that.”  Baal’s mouth slowly shifted to a smirk.  “And of course, myself and Leandros-”

“Enough”  Aym snapped back quickly.  “I do not need to hear whatever follows that.”

“Hahaha!  Fine, fine.”  Baal returned his arms to his sides.  “But I’ll be sure to tell you aaaaalll about what we get up to when I get back.”  Baal leaned closer to Aym.  “Including-”

“BROTHER.”

“Alright, okay, I get it.”  Baal paused for a moment.  “...You know, we still have a lot of cleaning to do back at the house.  Wonder where that one stain came from…”

“Did you HAVE to remind me of that?”

Baal let out a hearty laugh.  “C’mon, you act like that’s the worst thing we’ve woken up to after a party.”

“You get worse every year…”  Aym turned to Baal with a smile.  “I’m half tempted to ask the Master to get us separate houses at this point.”

“Ah, you’d get lonely before too long”  Baal placed his thumb and index finger on his chin.  “Though, being in my own place would afford me more chances to have some fun…”  He began to bite his lower lip.

“On second thought, perhaps it’s better this way.  Someone needs to keep you on track.”

“Well, now I’m starting to think it might be a good idea.  Gonna ask the Master about that once we get back.”

“You’re impossible.”  Aym shook his head.  “Anyhow, let’s hurry to the Crusader’s barracks.  We should begin preparations as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”  Baal quickened his pace.  “C’mon.”

Baal’s enthusiasm had not been quelled, but his brother’s words were lingering in his mind.  If this was the work of a proper army, then Aym would be correct in assuming this was the start of something bigger.  Baal could only guess as to who this army served, though.  The Remnants?  They couldn’t have amassed these numbers without bringing attention to themselves.  Some splinter factions of the Church existed, but none with the numbers, and none that would willingly cooperate with one another.  Perhaps one of the Crown Bearers?  No, none of them would risk open war with the Church.  But then who…

“...Brother.  Have you given any further thought to who this enemy might be?”  Baal spoke with a reserved tone.

“There is no point.  We have no leads, no evidence.  We will not know until we investigate.”  Aym’s brow furrowed.  “And that makes me uneasy.”

“Guess I understand.”  Baal raised his hands behind his head again.  “I’ll admit, I’m not too fond of going in blind either.  Not too worried about you or me, but we’ve got some fresh faces in the Crusaders.  This’ll be their first time going out with us.  To get sent out to fight an enemy we know nothing about on their first crusade…”  Baal looked up to the sky.  “Would be a shame for them to get sent to the Lady so soon after being chosen.”

“Perhaps.  But that is not for us to question.  You know that.”  Aym had returned to his usual stone face.  “They know what they’re in for.  They know they may get called to the Lady.  If they must die in Her service, so be it.”

“Yeah, I guess…”  Baal sighed.  “I dunno.  I’m just hoping we can wrap this up quick.  Would hate for this to get drawn out.”

“Indeed.”

The two approached the entrance to the Crusader’s barracks.  Beyond these doors lay the church’s finest warriors.  One thousand of the best, hand selected by both Baal and his brother from all around Death’s Realm.  Come dawn tomorrow, eight hundred of them would be departing for either Silk Cradle or Darkwood.  Despite their elite status, Baal knew some of them would not return.  But, with any luck, most of them would.  Baal took a sharp inhale and pushed the doors open.

A number of Crusaders were preparing for their morning drills when the doors were opened.  “My Lords!”  Without hesitation, the Crusaders dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.  “What brings you here?”  One of the ones in front asked.

“A call to action.”  Baal typically took on a far more intimidating tone with the soldiers, be they town guards or Crusaders.  “Gather your brethren in the courtyard.”  Baal began to walk further into the barracks.

“Sir!”  The Crusaders stood and hastened into the barracks.

“Well, Aym?”  Baal turned to his brother.  “You wanna handle the speech, or should I?”

“You.  You’re better at it.”

“Hah!”  An intimidating smile came across Baal’s face.  “You’re damn right I am.”

______________________________________________

Within minutes, the Crusaders were gathered within the barracks’ courtyard.  Many were already preparing for morning exercises, so it took little time to assemble.  All one thousand of them were waiting to hear their Lord’s words.

“Crusaders!”  Baal began.  “We have been called to service.”

Baal began pacing.  “The High Priests Leshy and Shamura have come to us with disturbing news.  Fifteen villages in total have been razed between Darkwood and Silk Cradle, all within a moon, along vital transportation routes to the Capital.  What’s worse, we know nothing of who this enemy could be.  They have left no trace of themselves that could tell us who they are.”

Baal stopped, his face brimming with anger.  “But that doesn’t matter!  Whoever this enemy is, they have made the mistake of declaring war on the Church!  On our Lady!  This-” Baal swung his right arm out.  “-will not stand!  The Church will not let this go unanswered!  Will you, Crusaders, stand idle while these heathens insult our Lady?”

“NO!!”  In unison, the Crusaders shouted.

“NO YOU WILL NOT!!”  Baal shouted back in return.  “We will FIND these heretical fools and we will personally deliver them to Death’s Door!  We will not rest until they have been driven from our lands!  We will cut a bloody swath through them until they repent!  We will carve their very hearts from their chests.  An offering of entrails to honor our Goddess!  But that will not suffice.”

Baal stepped forwards, eyes wide with fury and malice.  “A mere few dozen hearts?  To repay such blasphemy?  Nay.  We shall find out who sent them.  We will find their accomplices to share their punishment.  Fire, blood, and brimstone will fall on their friends, their families, and those pulling their strings.”  A manic, lustful gleam shines from the braziers surrounding the blood-drunk saint.  “An eye for an eye?”  Baal scoffs.  “Such repayment is fitting only for offenses against mortals.  TENFOLD SHALL BE OUR VENGEANCE!  TENFOLD SHALL BE HER RETRIBUTION!  AND TENFOLD SHALL BE THE BLOOD SHED FOR THE FALLEN!”

Spittle flies from the Saint’s lips, appearing as a mad street preacher. A hand runs over their face, and a shuddering breath enters and leaves the figure’s frame. Reeling back the worst of their indulgences, Baal gazes out over the crowd, observing the rising growls and shouts. “We are the chosen!  We are the soldiers of the Lamb!  We are the scythe that reaps the heretical harvest!  Our duty is to bring Death to ALL who would dare defy our Lady!  We shall deliver those who would dare insult our Lady…”  Baal looked up to the sky, arms outstretched.  “...TO THEIR SALVATION!!”

The Crusaders erupted in cries of fury.

“Now, begin your preparations.  You are dismissed!”

Baal looked back down at the soldiers.  “The Archbishop is announcing the Crusade as we speak.  We leave tomorrow at dawn.  The Third through the Sixth companies shall accompany me to Silk Cradle.  The Seventh through the Tenth will go with Lord Aym to Darkwood.  The Archbishop wishes the First and Second to remain here.  If we have need of you, we shall send for you.”

“Sir!”  The Crusaders bowed their heads and began to disperse.

Baal waited a moment before dropping his guise.  “Phew!  Got a little worked up there.”  He turned to Aym.  “You think I overdid it at all?”

“No.”  Aym said with a smile.  “If anything, I think you could have sold it a bit more.”

“Hah!  Not without ruining my voice for the next week!”  Baal was already back to being cheerful.  “Nah, I think it was enough.  You’re welcome to take the next one, though, if my approach is so lacking.”

“Hm.  Tempting, but I’ll have to decline.  Never have been fond of public speaking.”

“Man, some Bishop you are!”  Baal started towards the training ground.  “Well anyway, I’m gonna go see if I can’t sneak in some sparring with the Crusaders.  Wanna join?”

“...You have fun.  I’m going to help oversee the preparations.”

“Suit yourself!”  Baal began jogging towards the training ground, blood pumping at the thought of sparring with the Crusaders.

Not quite a real battle, he thought to himself, a large, toothy grin slowly manifesting on his face, but it’ll do for the moment.

[imlivinginyourtrashcan]

back at it again with the swap au

In this version, Giovanni is a mundie! Part of the crime family, The Potages! Only containing Gio, his two moms, and his very concerned Epithet having cousins, The Roughhouses

Now for what you've all been waiting for:

The mugger shrunk back. W-what the hell was she supposed to do in a situation like this?! Her eyes darted over towards the two teens cowering next to the backpack. Desperately, she grabbed the sea urchin looking one and held him at knifepoint, he pantomimed in mute protest.

"St-stop right there!" She shouted. "Don't you care what happens to these two?!"

Giovanni's grin did not falter for a second, in fact, it had gotten wider. More gremlin esc, you could say. He flicked his arms, hiding them inside his sleeves. "You think a hostage can save your ass? HAH!" He barked. "Go 'head, don't need 'em alive to sell their stuff, best thing they can do is postpone the inevitable by a few seconds, then I'll have three more body's under my belt." He flicked his sleeves, several switchblades coming out from inside, dragging them across the alley walls, his foot steps driving into the mugger's head like a mysterious ticking noise

Tik

Tik

Tik

"Is five thousand dollars worth their lives? Is it worth yours? You gonna wake up with five thousand in your pocket after you watch two teenagers die in front of ya? Or ya gonna let yourself die? These are aaaaalll hypothetical, it don't matter to me! It's your choice 'Sides," Giovanni stopped, eyes gazing the mugger with a serious, shaded away expression, like in an anime. "I've killed for less."

Suddenly, Giovanni charged the mugger head on until she ran out of the alleyway, screaming her head off like she had just saw five horror movies all at once.

Giovanni stopped, waiting until dead silence was all that remained.

Once there was reassurance that she was fully gone, the two ex-hostages looked at their saviour.

Giovanni Potage did not have an Epithet

Giovanni Potage had never been in a real fight in all seventeen years of his life.

Giovanni Potage started to laugh out of panic

"HOOOLY SMOKES!!! HAHAHAHA!!!" He spat quickly, hiding the knives in his sleeves while he gripped the wall. "That was SO SCARY! Hah! I may be laughing but on the inside I'm dying!"

Giovanni hadn't lied to the mugger fully about his background, his side of the family were a bunch of criminals, growing up learning how to scare, cheat, and lie his way through life. He tries his best to put all that behind him, though. If he had an Epithet, like his parents, he would use all these tricks all he wanted, but, he was a Mundie. So that means he has to lay low.

He desperately wheezed, hacking up whatever was in his throat. "Oh my god what a rush! I straight up thought we were all gonna croak! I know I kept my cool, but I swear If anyone touched me I would turn to dust."

Rick wrapped his arms around Giovanni, crying big stupid tears. "GIOVANNII!!!! MY SECOND BESTEST FRIEND!!! THANK YOU!!! YOU'VE SAVED US FROM THE MONEY HUNGRY WENCH!!!!!"

Giovanni awkwardly patted his back, then Lorelai was dragged into the hug, Rick nestling his head in the middle, tears falling onto the concreate.

"You too, Lorelai! I am so sorry the woman had drenched your work! But the best thing is that.... we are ALL HERE!!"

Ah, the beloved Neo Trio. Standing near each other, all three looked like Neapolitan ice cream, Lorelai and Rick's hair even made it so some of the ice-cream got into their section, authentic!

Giovanni Potage and Rick Shades, Lorelai's best friends, she cared about them more than anything else.

Now for RICK! Our beloved Rich little Sea Urchin! In the au, he's a Mundie, much like Giovanni. Being homeschooled most of his life, Rick never really got people, and people never really got him. He later finds two new BEST FRIENDS! Giovanni and Lorelai.

The good stuff:

"Hey.."

"Oh- eh- hello!" Rick waved awkwardly like a robot, as he started to sweat from the very thought of human interaction.

"Nice lookin' bag ya got there..."

The 'bag' she was referring to was Rick's murse, it was a cute little purple purse in the shape of a sea urchin. Rick had a... strange obsession with sea creatures, sea slugs, cephalopods, isopods, shrimps, crabs, you name it? He loved it. Sometimes he would tell random strangers facts only he thinks are cool.

"Thank you!" Rick held it up "It's a sea urchin! By the way, did you know that the sea urchin uses the hydraulic pressure of water moving in and out of their tube feet to move about slowly. They can also propel themselves along with their spines. That's pretty impressive, considering sea urchins don't actually have brains!" Rick info dumped, not picking up on the fact the woman clearly did not care.

"Look's expensive..."

"Oh indeed it was! I had to personally commission it!" Rick grinned, like a glitched character in a video game. The air got too thick with awkward silence to where he had to leave. "Well! Bye!" He quickly made a break for the exit, but the woman blocked her path.

"Who'd you get to commission it for ya? Might be lookin t'get one.."

"Oh! I paid that nice man at the Baxter's crafting store! No clue what his name was, but I'm sure he'd be happy to make it for you!" The bells in his head were not going off when they really should be

"Ooooooh Baxter's? Gee, I don't think I can afford it"

"Hm! Troubling!" Rick blinked, pulling out a book about Marine Biology from his murse. "Anyways, do you want to hear about 101 Ocean Wildlife Facts?"

Rick did not wait for an answer before flipping through it, clearing his throat, he read the first fact. "Number one! Many bony fish have more than just one set of nostrils. The nostrils of fish also do not open into the back of the mouth like those of mammals, and are not, therefore, for breathing. They lead into organs of smell, which are very sensitive in order for fish to detect the presence of food in the water at considerable distances. More nostrils = more smelling! Huh! Well isn't that neat?"

Rick, once again, did not wait for a reply from the woman. "Ahem, number two-"

The woman didn't think twice before trying to snatch the murse from Rick, making him grab for it with a whine. "Heyyy! That's mine!"

"Not for long!" The woman replied, tugging it. Rick shimmied his way out of her grasp, clutching the murse closely as he shoved the book back inside it.

"You bully! You could've broken it! I know just how to deal with you!" Rick declared, inching closer to the woman before embracing her. "You are only mean because of what society has done! I will be the first to break your mind away from these patterns of violence and thievery! I... forgive you!"

The woman swiftly snatched up the boy by his aquarium back pack, causing him to flail and wail.

"NOOOOOOOO!!! VHS TAPES!!!!! YOU LIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"

[cocomanga]

*Spoiler Alert* Solo Leveling Ep. 19 Review

Sooooo.... 😊

This last episode🔥... Some may call episodes like this "fillers", but I tend to appreciate them, because they usually help to develop the story more, and support the characters, giving us insight into their personalities, helping us learn about who they really are and why they do what they do.

I loved so much about it, the beginning where we got to see the little argument between Baek and Choi was cute. LOL

The fact that they fought over him is hilarious, and I think they did a great job of translating that through the anime.

Not to mention this kinda hot, quite useless side character🤭. LOL

So... heres the thing though. You may notice this as I post the side by side photos of the Manhwa vs the anime images... I've noticed that the intensity of the characters is significantly different, and unfortunately lost sometimes in the anime vs what we see in the manhwa.😬 I hate to say it, but... I feel some kinda way about that.

This is still my favorite anime, but …yeah... its a thing. And I'm definitely not the only person to notice this.

The biggest deal for me was the guild leaders and Chairman finally seeing Jin-woo's powers for the first time. It was tremendously exciting, and a scene I think the anime creators executed very well.

HOWEVER... 😅 I just feel like … the way we seem to get these strange versions of Jin-woo more often, instead of the one from the manhwa. It can kinda be... like... underwhelming.??

I feel like in scenes like this (above), at the very least, we should see him in CHIBI form, as he expresses himself in his authentically represented form from the manhwa.... I've seen chibi used thousands of times in anime and manhwa/manga/manhuas all over, that really help us to see so much emphasis when characters emote. This would have been very useful here IMO. Whats crazy is, I see a lot of people complain about the anime, claiming that Jin-woo is not charismatic. But he TOTALLY IS. Its just unfortunate that we don't get to see much of that on the screen.

Yet... I LOOOOVE the way they had him just stand here unassumingly as he released his shadow soldiers, all of that power just flowing so easily from him as they stood by and watched. The execution of this was just so exciting to me. 💖🥰 And not something we could have gotten from the Manhwa. Only a vivid imagination could bring this to life this way.

Once he arrived at the weapons' depot... or shop... lol this was another scene that I caught, hoping we'd get more out of it.

Guys, it's almost like they've taken some of his most endearing and interesting character traits, the ones that give him so much depth, and really... really watered him down (and you can see that it happens with the other characters, as well.). Makes me sad when that happens. I actually wrote out another post about it, which I'll likely put up soon (once whittle my rant down from novella form😅).

We've all seen movies or tv shows that have changed some elements of a story, that cause it to deviate slightly from the books, novels, or panels, and i totally get that. As an artist, and someone who appreciates AAAAALLL THE WORK that goes into these processes, I'd never take that lightly, or dismiss the extensive effort that it takes to produce an adaptation like this.

Also, I can understand that they also tend to change or edit parts to make it more interesting for all, and keep those of us who have read it on our toes. In my humble opinion, that's a great thing. However, the panels and clips I'm pointing out are directly related to Jin-woo's personality, not the action's he's taking in the story. They are essential to what makes him who he is. I just personally feel they should keep his character as close as possible to the way Korea presented him to us... especially for those of us who love him so much.

But anyways... I digress...

I'm so happy that our King finally got his new Hunter ID, complete with his well deserved "S", which should really be like... a "Z" or something🥴. haha!

Just something else I noticed, along with everyone else, Jin-woo's looks are changed quite a bit, another thing that's been pretty consistent throughout the series, however, and although I'm not the type to complain a lot about something I'm grateful for, when it comes to Jin-woo, I'm a little sensitive.😌 I'm sure I'll feel the same way when we get to see JJK Season 3, IF this happens.

This was another a panel I was SO excited to see, only to have it kinda quenched down, and the "camera" was angled at his back instead of his face when it happened. LOL I mean... some may argue that it was executed just fine. And to be honest, they could've omitted it, as they did some of the other scenes so I'm glad it was there at all, but... I dunno... what do you think?

Regardless of all of that... This was still a great episode, 😌 And he's still SO PRETTY.

And the fight at the end... Good googly moogly! The character in the demon castle was super intense, and him calling the High Orc to defeat him was so badass.

Also, giving us a sneak peek into how we'll now finally get to see one of our favorite characters that he runs into at the castle was so much fun.

ESPECIALLY that last scene!!! Aaaaaah! Gawd he's sooo very HOTTT!! I was like 😩damn baby can you please tone down the SEXXXY while getting ready to kill someone?!?! 😭🙌🏾

He did the smirk... Aaaagh!!🥵😍

Unfortunately, snow and work had me posting this super duper late, and I'm currently super duper tired so I know it's kind of a sloppy post, 😓so forgive me in case you're actually trying to make sense of it. haha!💖

I'm looking forward to seeing our next episode tomorrow!

[iamheavenbound]

HeavenBound — Chapter Three: Introspection.

Proverbs 18:24 — "One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." --

    Lucius awakened to the comfort of a bed, the pain of his injuries without adrenaline, and the  sight of Noel seated in a chair at his bedside. He tried rising to his feet, but the only thing he could do was let a pained groan escape his lips. His head turned to face Noel, who just stared at him with a grin that made the guy uncomfortable. Thus, he spoke up to break the silence.

    “This is your house?”

    “Yep. You’re not gonna ask what happ–”

    “Looks like a cabin you’d find out in the wild,” Lucius noted while studying the house’s interior. From within the room, he peered out into the living room. He was able to make out a fireplace, a rug, the wood infrastructure– was it a cabin?

    “It is. I live close to that town.”

    “Right. What happened?”

    “Thought you’d never ask. While I was explaining the whole church cult thing, you passed out. I had to carry you aaaaalll the way to this cabin. Did you know a human’s body is much heavier when it’s limp?”

    “Yes. I thought you lived close to that town,” Lucius replied with squinted eyes.

    “I do! I’m just messin’ with you.”

    No response from Lucius. Only a blank stare.

    “Anyway. I’ll make us tea. Be right back.” With that, Noel rose out of his chair and left the room.

    And Lucius was left to his own thoughts. Silence. How many demons had he enjoyed killing? He did not bother to count. He thought back to the church, and what that place really symbolized. He wondered if redemption was possible for a man like him. He’s someone who’s heart is in the right place, but beats in the body of a monster. He used to ponder: was he an evil man trying who sought to be better, or was he an inherently good man forced to be evil by the environment around him?

    The answer had been evident to him now: he is an evil person. The only way to improve, he figured, was to acknowledge this fact. He had self-reflecting to do. So, Lucius got to his feet, popped his shoulder into place with an agonized groan, and made his way out the cabin’s door.

    Not without Noel noticing.

    “Hey, hey, HEY! Where are you going?” he called out while speed-walking to follow Lucius into the frostbitten forest that enveloped his cabin. The cold could not shake the warmth of either demon hunter.

    “For a walk. I need to think. Don’t follow me.”

    “Wha-? Why not? We’re buddies, aren’t we? I could’ve left you alone in that church, y’know.”

    “No. I’m not interested in making friends. Stop following me .”

    Noel, of course, did not comply, in fact; he was now in front of Lucius, walking backwards as they trekked deeper into the forest.

    “You certainly look like you need one.”

    “I don’t for a reason,” he retorted.

    “What’s the reason?”

    No response.

    “Come on, what’s the reason?”

    The sound of snow being crunched with each step stopped. Lucius and Noel shared a moment of silence with eye contact; Noel returned Lucius’s glare with a sheepish grin. The brooding demon hunter surmised Noel wouldn’t leave without an answer.

    “Because you’ll have to worry more about me than any other demon.” 

    Only silence filled the forest, and Noel’s face went from upbeat to horrified.

    Only for him to burst into laughter.

    “What are you, a teenager? No way you thought that would scare me.”

    An annoyed grunt was all Lucius could muster before continuing his path– of course, Noel followed.

    “So, you ever been to the demon hunter hideout?”

    “No.”

    “Aw, what? Never? I gotta show you. It’s real close to where I live. You have to meet Michael. Dude’s the strongest.”

    “Not interested.”

    “Really? Looks like you aren’t going anywhere. Honestly, it looks like you’re walking aimlessly until I leave. Which I’m not, by the way. You might as well come with me.”

    A begrudged sigh followed by a few expletives escaped Lucius’s lips.

    “Alright. Take me there.”

    “Cool! Follow me.” A wide grin encompassed Noel’s face as he shot finger guns at Lucius. The latter, surprisingly, did not return the enthusiasm.

    And so the duo began their path–shoulder-to-shoulder–towards the covert gathering of demon hunters.

[spnshameblog]

King of hell rowena, god amara, death billie endgame..... lord......

[lesetoilesfous]

Fenders Narrative Symmetry

Ok wait sorry if someone pointed this out already but is anyone else just fascinated by how neatly Fenris and Anders’ arcs parallel one another?

As children - Anders keeps trying to run away. He’s alone, and he’s trying to survive. He doesn’t do it for anyone else, he’s escaping from people who chase him down, hurt him and imprison him.

Fenris actively chooses to fight his oppressors (admittedly within their limitations.) He sacrifices himself and his own chance at freedom for the sake of others, and willingly allows his body to be permanently changed, giving him strange and unusual powers.

As adults - Fenris runs away. He’s alone, he doesn’t take anyone with him. He’s trying to survive and he’s escaping from people who chase him down, hurt him and try to enslave him.

Anders chooses to fight his oppressors. He willingly allows his body to be permanently changed, giving him strange and unusual powers, in order to fight for the freedom and safety of others.

[lehdenlaulu]

No offense, Rian, but I want to see every single scene you asked to be taken out of TFA.

[demadogs]

hello loveliest person ever. would you consider no byler to be queerbait ?

hey bestie

if byler didnt happen i would genuinely believe that their intention was to go through with it but they dropped it or were told to drop it. because if its queerbait theyre literally doing it all wrong? the ultimate goal of baiting is to gain an audience from a selected community, in this case the queer community, by promoting the media as potential representation and yet they have done everything in their power to AVOID this with byler.

for starters the majority of queerbait is usually achieved in the marketing side of things. and yet there was ZERO joint press with noah and finn, where they could have promoted byler the most. almost all of their scenes are together but they deliberately separated them so there wasnt even a chance for spoilers about byler. that is not how you queerbait.

queerbaiting is supposed to be obvious. it shouldnt require elaborate theories, it should be thrown in our faces. this article shows a clip of a trailer from riverdale that includes a gay kiss. i think the kiss was just to distract the character, it wasnt intended to be romantic at all and yet they put it in the trailer? that was obviously for the goal of getting queer audiences more excited and more likely to watch this (absolutely fucking horrendous) show.

on the flip side!! theres also straight bait and again, aaaaalll in the marketing.

i cant even believe these are real lmao.

they did this for s3 too. theres a flash of this in the s3 trailer, which had lots of mlvn shippers thinking this was the season of nothing but love for them and yet el broke up with him in the second episode. we also get audio of mike saying “we’re not kids anymore” but no visuals that showed he was talking to will and definitely not the “its not my fault you dont like girls” line, which would have been such a clear opportunity to queerbait.

and s4 was very gay and they could have so easily grabbed a LOT of peoples attention and curiosity by adding some byler scenes in the trailer but there was nothing.

could you imagine if they showed one of these in the trailer?? they had such a clear opportunity to queerbait and they didnt.

the only thing they did include was this and i didnt even notice will the first time i watched it.

the only things we’ve seen in the marketing that relate to byler are from netflix accounts in other countries that loosely imply that they ship byler but thats literally it. and these accounts dont actually have any access to the writers room. theyre not implying or confirming anything theyre just trying to be relatable and a lot of people would relate to the post if they mention byler.

aside from them just avoiding the topic in the promotion for the show, theres also the fact that byler has inspired loads of in depth theories and analyses based on how they portray them in the show. the point of queerbaiting is to throw it in your face. “look a gay kiss! watch our show to see gay people!” the fact that we’re reading into shit like lighting, colors, music, framing, all this stuff that the ga doesnt read into is a big sign that their goal isnt queerbait. one time i got an anon that summed it up perfectly, “why would they queerbait only to gay film nerds?” and its so true.

queerbaiting should not have people thinking too hard. like the kiss in riverdale, its supposed to be shoved in our faces in order to actually achieve what theyre trying to do. not everybody has time or cares enough to read entire analyses on specific film choices, and because of that, they would be completely failing to bait people. the goal is to gain their audience and no one has been baited for this because it doesnt seem obvious that its actually going to happen.

because of all this if byler didnt happen i dont think queerbait would be the right word. itd be a whole different thing entirely and i would genuinely believe they were forced to not go through with it if it didnt happen. but i highly highly doubt that would ever happen. its netflix’s biggest show and they trust the duffers and its the last season so even if people dont like it its not like theyd lose money because people would stop watching. by then theyd already finished the whole show.

[little-mad]

Invasion of the Grad Student Snatchers Pt. 2

Here is the link to the previous part. This is the final part for now. There is more to the story but it currently only exists in my mind. That may change eventually, we shall see.

Halos set his sensors aside as he pulled on an unusual pair of gloves. Unlike the latex gloves doctors on Earth used, these ones were made out of a thin yet tough looking fabric. The point of each finger was tipped with a rubber-like cap that seemed to accommodate the alien’s sharp fingernails. 

At least with those on I didn’t have to worry about being scratched. 

“Alright, if you would please hold still…” With surprising deftness for such huge fingers, Halos plucked up one of the tiny sensors. It wasn’t until he started moving that hand towards me that I started to panic. 

I shot into a seated position and scrambled back about a foot. Something primal had been activated in me; a rarely utilized instinct that begged me to flee from those who were bigger and stronger than me. 

Halos had promised not to harm me, and despite my hesitance to believe him, I had already come to the conclusion that resistance wouldn’t do me any good. And yet here I was resisting. It was almost like I couldn’t stop myself. 

“Hey, calm down,” he said softly, his hand now frozen in the middle of its journey towards me. “I have plenty of experience working with small creatures. On my last assignment I was working with insects.”

“Oh great, so now I’m being compared to bugs.” Somehow that thought didn’t make me feel any better.

“If you’d like, I could inject you with a bit of tranquilizer-” 

Immediately, I laid back down. “Yeah right. Just put the damn things on me.” I scowled and forced myself to look away from the enormous man hovering over me–although it proved to be quite difficult considering how much real estate he took up. 

Halos hesitated a moment, but then, “Right, just relax. This won’t hurt a bit.” 

I had to clench my teeth until they ached to prevent myself from retreating once again as the giant hand continued on towards me. I resolutely trained my eyes on an empty spot on the wall of the high-tech lab room I was being confined in. Though, I could still see Halos’s massive form moving out of the corner of my eye. 

By the time his fingers were a few inches away from me I had to bite down on my tongue to keep myself from letting out what would no doubt be an undignified yelp. When he finally made contact with me, my eyes were held shut.

“I’m just placing a couple sensors to keep track of your regular bodily functions.” I barely registered the words before something cold touched the skin on my neck. It was just a light tough, and any pressure only lingered for a moment before lifting away; however, the presence of something cool on my neck remained. 

“I’m going to pull your sleeve up slightly…” A gasp slipped out from between my lips as I felt a tug on the right sleeve of my turtleneck. The fabric was dragged up along the bare skin of my arm, stopping only once my wrist was exposed. 

There was another touch of cold against the inside of my wrist, right on top of the veins.

“Just one more on your temple,” Halos said in a whisper, and I could swear I felt his breath shift strands of my hair. 

This time I braced myself for the contact, managing to react no more than curling my toes as the sensor touched the left side of my head. Once again the sensation of pressure was brief. If I didn’t know any better, I would never imagine it was a literal giant behind these gentle actions. 

“Alright, aaaaalll done.” I heard the magnified sound of rustling fabric and when I reopened my eyes I could see Halos had returned to standing upright beside the table. 

I reached a hand up to feel the small round object adhered to my neck, then I looked down to examine the one on my wrist.

“See, that wasn’t so bad was it?” Halos offered me a small smile before turning to a movie screen sized monitor behind him. 

I watched with interest as the monitor lit up with all kinds of unfamiliar symbols of varying colors. Halos tapped the screen a few times to bring up what looked to be a fluctuating graph. 

Glancing over his shoulder, Halos seemed to catch me staring. “Ah, this just shows me how you’re doing,” he explained. “This one here is your heartbeat,” he pointed to a red colored bar that was remaining relatively steady at the moment. “You humans seem to have a significantly faster heartbeat than ours.”

Biology had never been my strong suit, though I did seem to remember hearing in a high school class that smaller animals like mice tended to have quicker heartbeats. I guess to Halos, I was practically mouse sized.

“What are you studying me for?” It was strange to categorize myself as something to be studied. 

Halos turned away from the monitor, something of a guilty expression on his face. “I-uh…well I’m really not supposed to discuss that sort of thing with subjects.”

I pursed my lips. “And why not?”

Halos’s sand colored skin appeared to turn a shade paler. “It’s just not…it’s just not proper procedure is all.” 

“Are you planning to invade Earth or something?” The words came out before I was able to stop myself. 

Those big yellow eyes of Halos’s went wide for a second before suddenly a broad, toothy grin spread across his face. My muscles tensed as a loud, unrestrained laugh burst out from the giant.

Lifting a hand to cover his mouth, Halos seemed to be attempting to reign in his laughter. “Sorry, sorry.” He swallowed down his remaining giggles. “I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just that your planet would be far too small for my people to inhabit,” he explained as he finally got himself together. “Invading Earth would serve no purpose.”

I pushed myself up into a sitting position, eyes narrowed. “Then why did you take me?”

Halos sighed, all former mirth gone from his face. “I wish I could tell you, really, but I’m afraid my superiors would not be happy with me if I did.” 

I wanted to press further, to demand an answer; however, at the same time, my instincts were urging me not to push my luck with the big scary giant that could easily snap me in half. Halos had been calm and fairly reasonable so far, but that didn’t mean it would last. 

“Now,” Halos turned around to retrieve something off the counter behind him. “I need to take a blood sample.” 

My eyes zeroed in on the strange device in the alien’s hand. It looked sort of like a more advanced version of a piercing gun, only instead of an earring on the end, there was a long needle that progressively got smaller and smaller until it was a tiny point at the end. 

“And you’re using that?” I questioned, eying the device warily. 

Halos glanced from the gadget in his hand and back to me. “Well yes,” he said, acting as though he was confused by my question. “The needle was specifically manufactured for human size.” With a small spray bottle he had pulled from one of the pockets of his lab coat, Halos doused the needle before wiping it off with a dry cloth. 

A fear of needles was thankfully not something I suffered from. Getting poked was never exactly a fun experience, but I could always get through it without tears, sweat, or vomit. That being said, getting my blood drawn by a giant wielding a foreign instrument was its own separate category. 

“And you’re sure it’s safe?” 

Halos looked almost offended. “Of course, this isn’t some ramshackle operation we’re running here.” 

I scoffed. I had no way to be sure of that. For all I knew this guy was a total quack—but once again, my distrust didn’t mean a whole lot. Ultimately, I was at the whim of this giant. “Just make it quick,” I grumbled as I stuck out my arm.

Halos gave a grateful nod. “Hold still,” he instructed as he leaned in close for the second time, the needle-gun aimed and ready. 

Once again my eyes snapped shut, unable and unwilling to watch the giant’s approach. Something about the prospect of seeing those massive fingers against my much smaller body made my skin crawl. 

It wasn’t long before I felt a gentle but firm pressure take hold of my forearm. I flinched involuntarily, only to be met by muttered words of reassurance from Halos. “You’re doing great, just hold on.”

The next thing I knew there was a sharp pinch on my inner elbow. I winced, expecting it to be somehow more painful than a normal blood draw, but was surprised to find it felt about the same. A few moments later I could feel the needle being extracted. “Well that was fast.”

“Perfect. Hold on just a moment and I’ll spray that up for you.” I wasn’t sure what he meant by “spraying it up” but I decided not to ask. Instead I waited silently with my eyes held shut. 

I heard some rummaging around, which at that scale sounded like boulders being banged together, before Halos’s return was announced by a gust of breath that breezed against my skin. 

“Here you go.” A cool mist fell over my arm, instantly soothing the still slightly stinging needle wound. 

Once I was sure Halos had pulled away again, I reopened my eyes and glanced down at my arm. I was stunned to see not a single drop of blood, no residue, not even a tiny hole where the needle had gone in. My arm looked completely unaffected, like the blood draw had never even happened. “The spray did that?”

Halos, who was occupied with capping a vial that was comically oversized for the amount of blood it was carrying, gave an absentminded nod. “Yes, of course.”

Wonderful. So not only were these aliens fucking huge, they were way more advanced. “Yeah, that’s totally fair.” I thought to myself bitterly.

I sighed as I pushed myself up into a seated position. I really hoped Halos was telling the truth about not invading Earth, because if he wasn’t, humankind was going to be completely and utterly screwed. 

“Well what’s next then?” I asked. Not that I was eager to be further studied. More like I was eager to get this whole thing over with so I could go home and book an immediate appointment with a therapist—although, maybe that wasn’t the best idea. If I told any mental health professional about this experience they’d probably have me institutionalized.

“Hmm?” Halos was clearly distracted with inserting the vial of my blood into some sort of carrying contraption. Once he completed the task, he seemed to register what I’d said. “Oh, nothing. I just need to analyze your blood sample and run some tests on it,” he explained as he turned to face me. “I will have more to do with you tomorrow though.” 

“What?” I was suddenly on my feet, staring straight up at the colossus before me. “Tomorrow? No way, you have to let me go right now!”

I couldn’t stay here for another whole day! I needed to get back home. I had responsibilities, homework to do, classes to attend, tutoring lessons to give. I couldn’t just dismiss all that so this giant alien could use me as some sort of guinea pig! 

Halos visibly cringed. “I-I know this must be difficult for you, but you can’t go home yet.”

“The hell I can’t.” 

Who did this alien think he was? Who gave him the right to take me from my life and hold me captive for his own benefit? And what, I was just supposed to lie down and accept it? No, not going to happen.

After throwing Halos a hostile look, I turned on my heel and began marching towards the edge of the table. If I was being honest with myself, I had no idea what I was planning on doing. There was a part of my mind that thought I would somehow climb down from the table. Of course, even if I could miraculously manage that, where would I go?

There was little room for those kinds of rational thoughts in my head as I angrily stomped my way across the expanse of metal.

“Hey, please don’t do that.” Halos’s plead fell on deaf ears. I continued my trek. I heard a deep sigh. “Come on now...” A second later I caught sight of something enormous coming towards me out of the corner of my eye. 

In an instant a hand the size of a mattress was mere inches away, and it wasn’t stopping. I tried to back out of the way, but he was too fast. Claw adorned fingers were upon me, and I felt absolutely sick to my stomach. I was willing to do anything to make that feeling go away. 

And so I chomped down on the nearest bit of enemy flesh that I could find. The moment the salty taste of skin entered my mouth I regretted it. I regretted it even more when the attack failed to break skin and in fact did little more than cause the giant to let out an indignant exclamation. 

The fingers continued to close around me until I was completely encircled. “I didn’t want to have to do this.” The voice boomed above me. I was surrounded by the presence of this giant, in sound, in sight, smell, and sensation. I couldn’t escape it. I was forcibly reminded every instant of how weak and defenseless I was. 

My stomach churned as Halos moved me through the air, back over to the center of the table. Soon I found myself being lowered down, except even once my back hit the cool surface, the gigantic presence remained, in the form of a single finger pressed into my sternum. The deadly sharp claw hovered just above me, ensuring I would not dare try to struggle. 

A moment later I heard a mechanical whir, and suddenly the restraints from before were back, only without the muzzle and blindfold this time. 

Halos removed his finger, unblocking my view of his face looming above me. “I really am sorry, that’s not how I like to do things.” He was much closer than I’d ever seen him before. For the first time I noticed a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of his nose and under his eyes.

“Fuck you,” I hissed. Halos leaned back, and at first I thought my insult had genuinely shaken him, but a second later I found out the real reason. A small cloud of white dust bursted out from somewhere above my head, quickly invading my nostrils. 

I breathed out heavily through my nose, trying desperately to expel the foreign substance. I guess it didn’t work, because after a few moments passed, a deep feeling of exhaustion stole over me. 

“You...shit.” The words stumbled out of my mouth sloppily as my eyelids began to grow heavier and heavier. 

“I promise, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.” The giant’s words were the last thing I heard before the sedative won out.

[meridianbarony]

One of these days some writer’s gotta include kindling alongside forging, mentoring, constructed cold, budding, etc. If splitting sparks makes twins why not merging and begetting sparks? I just really like the idea of multiple forms of reproduction and choosing to have babies or adopting new adults. Which btw I really liked the mentor system and hope it transfers but I hope it’s just one option among many.

Haha, Good morning Anony- 

I’ve not written the mentoring system from IDW2 personally, but I do like it too. This is one of those times I wish I could sci-fi magic edit some convos I’ve had with my pals away from tumblr and twitter and post them because it doesn’t really come through in some of my fics that I combine systems in them, but I’ve talked extensively about it..... in private. 😅😂

For instance my boy Brainstorm- In everything I’ve posted with him he’s still his good ol cold constructed self- but in an AU I have with a good friend I will not name here, he’s actually a kindled mech- depending on our mood he knows that or not and gets to be reunited with his carrier. 😉

In my Vos fic (assuming anyone reading this will be minding my tags on that one lmao) It’s not explicitly stated but The Confederated clans of Vos are exclusively kindled/carried For Reasons™ and the surrounding city-states all use all the different fanon/canon ways-(Kindling, hot spots, cold construction- likely mentoring for those second two?)  and find them all normal. Brainstorm in that one was Cold-Constructed to be a guard for Harmonex, but being how brilliant he is they choose to educate him. Of course, the discrimination isn’t based on construction in that AU, it’s based on mode ability in both the flier and non-flier cultures. 

I do also hope that whatever comes next for TF comics it’s interesting and Well done. I like how it’s been done in TF Earthspark, with the Malto family growing but the new Terrans needing more time to grow into themselves than classic canon tf babies in the past. :3c 

I’ll deff have to think about this more, I’ve not really done any lore posts for my Aus in a long time or lore that includes how wide stuff goes for me as a writer myself. It’s aaaaalll in the chatlogs. Thanks for the ask! ♥

ETA: I’m honestly still whacked on cold meds from this whatever it is so I completely forgot to mention ATUE- my soap opera lmfao. That’s also one where it’s different. but I’ve been going back and forth on changing it because the initial ideas for it were written when IDW was going on and a lot of the canon rules for it were less solid. the only reasons I’ve not is because it’s kinda cool and also I know there’s some folks who get squicked by a human analog for tf reproduction. 

that being said, it’s been so long that who knows if those folks have gone on to other fandom pastures? we will see. 

Okay post actual over lmao

[kkyujikoo]

These are my... 2...? Maybe 50, cents about the whole "freejk" thing. I'm gonna be extremely petty and at some points a whole lot sarcastic and it's gonna be long but I had to say it. As soon as I get my computer I'm gonna make it under read more, but the app does whatever it wants, as we know.

Listen, this ain't my first fan rodeo, and not even the first fan rodeo where I've been directly or indirectly accused of being some sort of pervert or delulu. I've been in fandom spaces since I was a teen, I was shipping mlm couples when queerbaiting in TV shows was still something that was seen as the norm rather than some cheap disgusting trick. I was there when fanfic spaces saw "slash" fics as something "different" and to be tagged with a more mature rating even when they just looked at each other.

I was in BBC's Sherlock's fandom and I shipped Johnlock during the hiatus between S3 and S4, at this point I'm not even feeling it when people call me delulu or a weirdo.

So, yeah, take this with a grain of salt: as a person who has seen thousands of times fandom drama unfolding and has lived too much of it... This whole situation is so ridiculous it makes me laugh. Like, yeah, it's maddening how people will blame anyone and everyone because they don't even see their own bias and homophobia, granted, but like... It also makes me laugh for the sheer dumbassery of the reasoning behind it all?

Like... Y'all are getting mad and for what? Because it sure as hell isn't the invasion of privacy, since y'all are watching the same content we're all watching and you're paying to see it the same way everyone else is. If you don't want to "invade their privacy", you should just... Stop watching content that isn't their music videos, RUN episodes or interviews. Memories and any kind of dvd/video that shows what they're doing behind the scenes shouldn't be part of their job as musicians, and therefore we're intruding in their privacy... Or aren't we?

Or maybe it's more nuanced than that: maybe the content they release on dvd/on their official channels is part of their job as entertainers, and it's been approved, and it's a small window THEY are granting us.

You know what's the REAL invasion of privacy and what REALLY invalidates someone autonomy? When you, who maybe aren't even paying to see that content (which is something I understand, like, dude, I'm not covered in money either), DEMAND what kind of behind the scenes content you want when I swear ABSOLUTELY NO ONE has asked you. Once again: you don't like it? You think it's some huge invasion of privacy? Don't buy it. Don't interact with it. Convince your friends to do the same. For all I care, just go and petition to boycott this kind of content. I know you won't do it, because... That's the thing, isn't it? It's not the invasion of privacy that bothers these people.

Y'all aren't mad because we get into their business or else you would have gotten real mad when we were privy to REAL private moments like people crying their hearts out.

No, no. Y'all are mad because it's "shipping content" and "fanservice" which apparently bothers you because it lacks authenticity.

Pick a side, lovelies: either you DON'T want to invade their privacy, and thus all the content they release should be focused on what fans want to see, or you WANT to know how they interact TRULY in private.

And here's the catch: "shipping content" can be anything. Shipping existed WAAAAAYYY before the word for it was invented, same way with fanfictions. Shipping means, literally, "seeing two (or more) people interact and thinking they would make a good romantic pair". That's it. That's quite literally it. Everything else is just some nuance of the concept of shipping, but at its core, it's nearly impossible to ban all shipping content when it's a group of seven people, because they should for real go in social distancing mode to do so. Most people who have parasocial relationships tend to have "ships" whether they know it or not, because we've all, at least once, looked at a dynamic from the outside and thought "oh man they look cute together". So, even if, o dear ones, your wishes were granted... What the hell do you mean by "shipping" content? Should they just film solo clips, avoiding talking about the other members? But wouldn't that be fanservice, since it's focused on pleasing the fans? (Which, ultimately, is what fanservice MEANS, and I hate to break it to y'all but the whole concept behind entertainment and thus all the content BTS releases it's... For the fans. Like, they're not going out of their way to just meet our expectations but they're certainly doing fanservice by the mere act of releasing bonus content.)

But it's not even quite that, is it? Because no one bats an eye if it's Tae kissing Nj's cheek. I've seen no hashtag against everyone - and I mean literally every one of them - wolf whistling at Nj. It's okay to show intimacy... Because they're bandmates and it's okay to be close to someone who you see basically 24/7, I hear you. And it's also okay when people see that and gush over that closeness, because it's such a nice thing to see.

Soooooo... We've got to free JK from whom exactly? From what?

Are y'all mad cause people pointed out there's very little way a bruise that stayed for a whole ass night could be a quick bite? Because that doesn't harm jk, at most makes fun of him and jimin and their poor excuses (seriously, guys, next time consider using mosquitoes or "I was doing stuff". It'll be equally embarrassing but at least the meme will be funny), and it's literally... A fair observation. Like. It's a hickey, people are gonna make jokes about seeing a hickey and poor excuses of covering it up in the exact same way they're gonna make jokes over jimin falling out of chairs. And yeah, a hickey is AT LEAST something that happens in a sensual context. Like, I could understand "people who are extremely familiar with each other will have different body language/touch in areas where usually you wouldn't see friends touching each other", but that's not. Not a hand on the thigh. It's a hickey on the neck. I don't even know a more stereotypical placing for a hickey. But once again, are y'all mad because someone is pointing it out? Because that's not being delulu or even being a shipper, really, it's just commenting on something that was approved to be shown and discussed in something that was released BY THEM.

Are y'all mad at hybe for showing something that literally fell onto their hands? Cause like, unless someone (I'm counting on Jimin, since as we know Jungkook was busy spinning him round and round and had both his hands busy) called at hybe headquarters to say "yo bang pd substitute, is it okay if I give my friend jk here a hickey? Cause he's being really annoying rn and he has to pay", I highly doubt anyone expected Jungkook to come to rehearsal all neatly marked up. Or idk, maybe someone at hybe asked them "we need Jungkook to come in with a hickey but refuse to say it's a hickey, so that fans will feel reeeeally served." That sounds perfectly plausible too. Or a good marketing strategy.

Now, if you're a big company and your objective is to have some footage of the rehearsals for a concert, and the fandom is too good at noticing stuff for their own good, and one of your artists comes in with a very visible mark, and he and his bff bropal4lyfe come n with a story about how they were playing and a bite happened, you've got three choices: 1. Cut the artist out of aaaaalll the footage. Someone would have noticed the "bite mark" anyway, you best believe that. If you don't want anyone to notice it, you gotta cut him in most of the footage where it's visible. 2. Keep the hickey, discard the explanations. You could do that, but also it would feel a lot more unfaithful to everyone involved. Also they clearly worked their ass off to invent an explanation, come on! They truly tried to do their best inventing something that was not "it's a mosquito bite", they should get some credit! 3. Keep the bite, keep the explanation.

Notice how none of these solutions include the biting never happening because... They couldn't prevent it? The only thing they have any control over is how they're framing each "accident". And that's not an easy job.

I applaud you, people on the editing team.

So... On whom should we cast the blame now? Ah, yes, I think it's finally time for the ultimate scapegoat of this fandom: Jimin. Which is funny, cause... You know... If this were really about privacy, or being "victims" of shipping... This should be about freeing him too, you know? But obviously Jimin does it for attention, while Jungkook, poor angel that he is, doesn't even know what shipping is.

Furthermore, don't we all know how much Jimin imposes himself in Jungkook's life? To the point where he, multimillionaire man feels compelled to share a car with Jimin even if they're both late in the process. And can't you see how uncomfortable he is, draping himself over Jimin, making Jimin drap himself over him?

Oh lordy, truly such an awful eight years Jungkook spent, choosing to have vacations with someone who made him uncomfortable, spending free time with him, even having to suck his ear in public to the point you can see his saliva just because Jimin was sad :( truly an all-around bad time for Jungkook, as evidenced by alllll those times when he said Jimin was pretty, cute, and all-around knowing every little thing about Jimin. I absolutely concur, the dude would be so much more happy if jimin was not in his life.

Did that sound weird and absolutely ridiculous and a really absurd joke? Because that's what y'all sound like to me. Like. Jungkook is out there living his best life, getting hickeys and showered in affection and y'all paint him as a fucking martyr??? I'm sure he's really truly desperate that Jimin holds him in such high regards 😭😭😭 I can see him suffering whenever he starts doing his own serendipity rendition 😭😭 and when he claimed you are me, I am you as his and Jimin's only 😭😭😭 I cannot believe this poor baby 😭😭😭

I've reached a point where every time I hear this stuff I laugh because the levels of twisting reality when it comes to jikook are extraordinary, Jungkook will have a literally blissed out face and people will cry in outrage.

But coming back to my point: let's pretend you're not mad at Jimin and the possibility that jikook are dating: are y'all mad... At the hickey? Because at this point it seems like the only feasible solution. And if you are, do not worry: I'm sure Jungkook's skin was throughly healed by his boo. A kiss soothes even the worst pain, doesn't it?

[arielsojourner]

With the end of Loki Season 1 and all that is implied by the end of WandaVision and the new Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness movie, it is clear that the MCU multiverse is here to stay.  It is also clear that the One Who Remains (*cough* Kang *cough*) we met in the last episode is the one who defeated ALL OF HIS VARIANT counterparts and he will return and perhaps win again. That is a terrifying thought. In the meantime, we will have lots of variant version of him.

So this could be a god awful mess of characters used and then abandoned like broken toys, and lack of continuity, and gaping plot holes. This gives the MCU writers a huge out to get very lazy (and seeing what happened with the Star Wars Sequels you know it could happen here and ruin good characters with plots that make NO SENSE! I’m looking at you Palpatine!!!) I mean why bother to write a good script since continuity can be rewritten in a second and inconsistencies can be magic handwaved away?  

As someone who likes the MCU and before that Marvel and DC comics, I am of the opinion that the MCU can only pull this off for the next phases and pull it off WELL one of two ways:

1. They set a series of “in universe” rules on how the multiverse works. Who can travel. How can they travel. What is the effect of a multiverse war, of moving verses, of changing etc. How does this work alongside the already existing MCU rules (and I use that term loosely here) when it comes to time travel. Consistent world building will be key here. (I’m think of Jack the Giant Killer, that movie with Ewan McGregor that barely made a blip in the movie world but had GREAT consistent world building and internal magic rules). It will only be a good solid story arc if we have a consistent set of rules for all the MCU and for the character variations.

or

2. They embrace the crack. They embrace aaaaalll the crack. Anything really does go. The actors bring it so so hard, they chew on the scenery. They jump in the lobster tank. The writers explain nothing. Is Colson alive? Is he dead? Is Agent Carter canon? How many Lokis are alive? Does it really matter? They make a beautiful cracktastic mess of everything fan fiction style. The MCU literally looks like AO3 by the end of this, complete with coffee shop AUs side by side AOB and de-aging fics involving Alligator Loki and Howard the Duck.  We’re talking Deadpool breaking the 4th wall for everyone here. All the Spider people. Mutants. Every. Single. Disney property making a cameo or getting a call out. Hell, have Grogu show up at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngers. They make this work by just embracing the chaos. 

That’s the only way this will work.

I’m secretly voting for option 2.

[jaythebeagle]

*Extended sigh*