#accepted: dmitri

[carpisuns]

these are a couple weeks old now and also supposed to be anonymous lol but here are some ml doodles I did for the secret drawing box!

the third one is from @maridotnet’s beauty and the beetle au which i highly recommend!

fifth one is from @sha-nwa’s fic the way I loved you which is one of my favs ever<3

[daydreamerdrew]

The Human Target (2021) #8

[spkyscry-a]

@royalreef​ replied:  She is also GRABBING him. In her mouth. Around his middle. And shaking him like a squeaky toy. 

 He must be punished for Not Ourple Crimes.

He will accept his punishment in this case, being shaken around like a squeaky toy. It is deserved. 

[kilgatehq]

[attibar]

Found an old idea that I had left unfinished, until now at least lol.

I love the idea of Henry's powers being found out post CTM and how people would react to it. Ellie, Charles, and Galeforce accepting Henry for who he is, and realizing all the deaths he's gone through. That despite all the timelines he chose this one. The CCC (and by extension the Wall) still fearing Henry and wanting to keep him under control. After all in several timelines he lifted up the Toppat Clan and even killed Dmitri in two timelines (PP and TR)

And then there's Reginald who is my favorite reaction :D

[bodhrancomedy]

I saw a poll about the best opening line ever and it was kinda a shitty choice so I want to show you my favourite opening lines I’ve written.

The Cat Druid & The Arsonist

“In three years of running the only cat sanctuary in Middle Bresser, I’ve heard a lot of their odd tales about how they ended up there.”

The Way Through the Woods

“It had taken almost a century of denial - and nearly two more of experimentation - before Palamon Keeper accepted it was, in fact, impossible for him to die.”

Nostos and the Filigree Lantern

“The earth opened up on a Tuesday just before noon.”

Dmitry Donne and the Great Lawyer Caper

“Dmitry Donne was twenty-six years of age, a fact he did his best to obfuscate in either direction.”

The Heart of the Garden is a Single Silver Rose

“We must start our story at the end because that is where we must start it.”

[lina-vas-dom]

Улыбнитесь! Вы так ослепительно-женственны. Что за прихоть - покачивать розой в руках? Вы бранили меня совершенно божественно, Не приняв покаяния в несерьезных грехах. Ваши доводы, право же, так убедительны, Да и голос, признаться, непреклонно-суров. Ах, подайте хоть лучик надежды спасительной, Я сумею его прочитать между слов… /Дмитрий Громов 2

Smile! You're so dazzlingly feminine. What's this fancy of wiggling a rose in your hands? You scolded me in the most divine manner, without accepting repentance for frivolous sins. Your arguments, indeed, are so persuasive, and your voice, I must confess, is so hard and harsh. Oh, give me a ray of saving hope, I'll be able to read it between the words… /Dmitri Gromov 2

[00lari00]

Lyan~💜🧡💥

My first THSC oc? YAY :D

(I decided to change their name so it wouldn't be so confusing since my name is Lari. Before they were my sticksona but during the time I started doing them as a single character.)

----------

Description: Lyan is a hitman who killed people for money and entertainment. Known as a criminal, they were captured by The Wall and confined, but due to their anger and aggressiveness they were unable to keep them in prison for long. So Dmitri had an idea of ​​how to control Lyan, proposing them to work for The Wall in exchange for a certain "freedom" (even though they were still watched by Dmitri), Lyan would capture or kill whoever Dmitri sent in exchange for a certain amount of money, they didn't have much of a choice so they accepted.

Although Lyan is still considered a type of prisoner, they still has certain benefits such as walking freely through The Wall and only leaving when Dmitri tells them to.

[itspotatocatto]

100 epitaphs analysis rambles

mostly centered around symbolism of sanya's outfit changes but also touching on the baseball bat, the convergence cables, and a few strike 3 line retrospectives. (had to put it under the cut because it accidentally got really long, whoopsies!)

the two main outfits we see sanya in are her short yellow and black outfit with her hair down (which i will be referring to as "gymkid outfit") and her longer black and white outfit with her hair tied up (which i will refer to as "punk outfit").

in sanya's gymkid outfit we see her helplessness and youth, from the first time yura took her out to party [false disposition] to how she lays down seemingly caught in a grieving immobility. in her punk outfit however we see her defiance and her attempts to be "mature", raising the bat to protect KT when they first meet [parties are for losers] to her irreverent laughter while "a candle burns another photograph".

in convergence we see how yura views the cables binding the characters central to his plan of saving KT, sanya is here in her gymkid outfit, as much as he cares for her she's still a helpless kid getting tied up and held back by all that's going on. but in 100 epitaphs we see how sanya views this situation, seemingly accepting the cables and embracing them. she welcomes them, they don't restrict her, they comfort her, enabling her to get stronger, to be better at fighting the world.

also take note of the baseball bat, in convergence she isn't touching it but still tied up with her, out of reach but inescapable. whereas, in 100 epitaphs we see and hear how yura taking the bat in his hand kicks up the music, that audible ignition of firey rebel spirit, and when the cables enwrap her she wraps herself around the bat, holding it tight to her, refusing to let it go, that symbol of anything and everything she might be able to do to change things, to use what little power she has and release the frustration she's built up against the cruelty of the world.

this outfit symbolism is also shown in how sanya was wearing her gymkid outfit while she was on call with yura during the "negotiations" in convergence. she had very little actionable power in that situation, her presence was concealed and then almost immediately forcibly removed as soon as it was revealed. even down to the tiniest detail of yura's contact photo of her being her wearing the punk outfit and how that's the outfit she wears when she confronts dmitry in 100 epitaphs, these little attempts at displaying strength.

these outfit specifics even go back to young!sanya tying her hair up in preparation for the funeral, probably her first real experience of having to be mature. the facial expression change between young!sanya and present!sanya there is also very telling, young!sanya's frown is so sad, so unsure. this is contrasted by what we can see of present!sanya's frown, it's a lot sharper, a lot more sure of itself, somewhere between determined and disgruntled, she's gotten used to trying to be mature but that doesn't make it easier, she's just pushing through it harder.

but of course, yura and sanya's views of her aren't the only ones we see in 100 epitaphs, we also see sergei's perception of her as they stand back to back. here she's in her punk outfit, but it's incomplete, her hair is down, she can't fully commit herself to this, it's not who she is (or maybe she shouldn't commit herself to it and it's not who she should be).

on the topic of sergei it is SO COOL how strike 3's presence is all over 100 epitaphs. from the tepid autumn day to the motif while sanya and sergei are back to back, even how they both start with a phone (olga calling vs yura disconnecting). and they way strike 3 foreshadowed that final scene in 100 epitaphs in a way to make the exact way those lines would turn out ambiguous is damn near masterful.

"everything will pass, the edge will dull, i know what's best for you, and after all a day will come, warm and bright when i, tear down this dismal shelter wall." hearing this we're lead to believe a few key things: that sanya's edge will dull, and that this tearing down of the dismal shelter wall will be a strong and resilient action.

and yet in 100 epitaphs, it is not sanya's rebellious edge that dulls, but sergei's protective one. he realises that trying to protect sanya like this is just pushing her further away from him, he knows what's best but he's given up on trying to make her see that, the shelter wall is torn down not in triumph, but in resignation, collapsing under it's own weight.

"just hide behind this back of mine and save your helpless spite" this is framed like sergei asking sanya to let him protect her and to save that spite she feels for times where it might be of more use than as the weapon of an angry teen. in 100 epitaphs we see how sanya grabs onto sergei's back, to prevent him from punching yura, saving the embodiment of helpless spite.

can you tell i FUCKING LOVE THIS SERIES

[nopanamaman]

do you read the fanfic people make? if so, do you have any personal favourites?

Oh man this is gonna be a LONG post

I do read fanfics about my OCs whenever I can! It's always interesting to see different interpretations of your characters. Sometimes they even influence my own perception of them a little bit!

Of course I wouldn't go as far as to say that fanfics have altered any canon story beats, but certain minor character details have definitely been planted in my mind that way. Like I think at this point I'll just accept Arthur's last name as Sokolov because I read it in some fanfic and it stuck lmao

I remember being very impressed with the character writing in Everything Turns Out Fine for Once - I think that was the name? It was a longer work about Sanya and Yura looking for Anya and Dmitry after they escaped. The author got a really nice read on everyone's personalities!

I also recently read a (fairly depressing) Temnova/Olya fic that I enjoyed quite a bit. Just for Today was the name, I believe. The atmosphere of being stuck at a corporate party you don't want to be part of was spot on🥴

There are also a bunch of nice fics in Russian. I read Грань not so long ago and it was a very interesting little exploration of Tsar.

My all-time favourite fic was also a Russian one, and was written by my friend. It was a very poetic exploration of Nadya's relationship with religion, and it had contributed a lot to how I saw that character myself back in the day. Sadly, I don't think it was ever published publicly.

Also I started doing consistent character writing relatively recently - that is, began writing out the events of PAFL in a straightforward novel format a little over a year ago. While it has helped me flesh a ton of things out both character- and storywise, it's also given me a bigger appreciation for fanfic writers that manage to put out huge chapters semi-regularly hahah

It's also very interesting to see how the written canon differs from fan interpretations, sometimes in rather surprising ways. I think if I ever end up releasing that massive slab of text, expectations on how certain characters behave would be somewhat broken

[loathsome-sickness]

cw eating disorder talk under the cut (specifically ARFID and sensory issues around food)

there really, desperately needs to be a new ED diagnosis for sensory issues around food because i have been trying to find help for what i have going on for y e a r s at this point and the closest i've ever gotten is ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)

but the thing is? i am 99.999% sure i don't have ARFID. i'm starting to wonder how many other autistic folk in the same boat as me also don't have ARFID. because according to all the research i can find ARFID is caused by/expressed in fear/anxiety around food. which means it is NOT based around the fact that for some people food genuinely is as awful as we are worried it will be

anxiety can be treated with exposure therapy. ARFID can be treated with exposure therapy. because it's about desensitizing you to something that isn't 'really' a threat (reductive for the sake of the strain thinking about this topic puts on me, please forgive)

but just like how you can't treat overstimulation with desensitization (eg. an autistic person who cannot socialise due to sensory overwhelm needs accommodations for their sensory needs rather than ways to cope with the emotional impact of going unaccommodated), you can't treat a sensory issue surrounding food with coping skills for being less stressed about the food

but because there isn't a specific eating disorder diagnosis for food-based sensory sensitivities , i can't find any fucking resources on how i'm supposed to eat in a way that isn't slowly fucking killing me due to malnutrition/weight related health conditions. the resources i can find for the next closest thing are all the equivalent of telling an autistic person having a meltdown that they just need to get their emotions under control i fucking hate it here

[inkperch]

...Three Houses really is one hell of a well written tragedy.

Like- they balanced three protagonists, all with Harmartia's that will, depending on the route, either bring their own downfall, or be overcome in such a way that solidifies the other twos fall--

And thats while maintaining three entire supporting casts, all balanced to either help the Lord overcome their fatal flaw, or enhance how terrible their fate becomes-

Like. Each Retainer is the worst (read, best) example of this, depending on the route they're either single handedly the only reason their Lord's not dead at the end, or they're the most culpable person for their Lord's fall, second only to the one to put their pointy implement of choice in their gut-

But the three lords themselves, just-

Dmitri's single minded determination for revenge, driving him beyond all reason in well in every route bUT in the routes you don't side with him, Edelgard's fixation on the future, the mounting cost only sending her spiraling ever further into her determination until the price becomes the loss of everything she longed to protect, and the cornerstone of it all, Claude, the one caught in the middle who need not be involved at all, but who's schemes and secretiveness made him impossible to trust, even as all he dreamed of and schemed for was a kinder world.

(unrelated hot take, El wins every route in spirit even the ones she dies in, the change she wants comes about even when it's in a form she could never have accepted) (fitting, for the most overtly Tragic Hero of the three of them, even on her own routes she's very Shakespearian)

[youcouldmakealife]

LBTE: Jared (138-139)

Vancouver!

138. Change of Scenery (Redux)

Original Change of Scenery was Jared heading back to Edmonton, so he’s got to say he likes this one better.

Bryce is more nervous than Jared’s ever seen him.

Okay, maybe not like, as nervous as he was stepping out of the car and offering his hand to Jared’s dad after he caught them with Jared’s hand in his pants, or the wrung tight anxiety of the final days of trade negotiations — which, holy shit no wonder — but it’s close, Bryce practically vibrating out of his skin as they get ready for media day. If Bryce tries to fix his hair one more time —

He wants them to like him so bad. Like, never wanted it more, and that’s saying something, because Bryce desperately wants to be liked.

“I want this to be my team, you know?” Bryce says. “Like, we’re going to be here for awhile, and—”

He wants them to like him SO BAD.

Jared kisses his scrunched up forehead. “They’ll like you. Just like. Be Bryce. Real Bryce. Real Bryce is great.”

Excellent advice from someone who otherwise does not consider himself an authority on making people like you. But as someone who doesn't like other people and is still pretty fucking charmed by Real Bryce, he has experience on this one.

They’ve made ground rules: they’re going to go to team stuff separately, at least to start. Revisit later, but right now Bryce will go in alone and Gabe will pick Jared up, which he started doing last season for Environment Reasons, like they aren’t flying in chartered planes on the regular. They’re not going to sit together on the plane either, Jared back in the rotation with Gabe, who goes between him and Dmitry depending on if he wants chill company or not.

Eating together at dinners, that’s fine, because it’s not like, a partner thing, so Jared will continue to eat with Gabe and Bryce will join. They’re not going to lean into any media about a bromance. They don’t need to like, stick together twenty four hours a day, they get to spend more time together than they ever have, so team time’s like, different. Will some teammates figure out they’re together anyway? Probably, judging by the past, but they’re going to do their best to avoid it, and just take it as it comes.

And no sleepovers on the road, Jared doesn’t care how much Bryce pouts about it.

No matter how old and jaded Jared gets, he still remains terribly naive about certain things. It’s so cute that you think there won’t be any sleepovers on the road, Jared.

“He went ahead,” Jared says. “We figured we’d like, come in separately for a bit, be like, subtle.”

Gabe and Stephen exchange a look. Jared’s not sure what it’s meant to convey, but it succeeds at annoying him.

I think we all know this look conveys ‘our boy somehow still thinks they can be subtle’.

“I know,” Gabe says. “Just — don’t get your hopes up about not getting caught? The guys aren’t dumb.”

“I know,” Jared says.

“And you’re kind of obvious,” Gabe says.

“I know,” Jared mutters.

Stop bursting his bubble by stating facts, Gabe.

“Oh my god, are you like, momming and dadding me right now?” Jared says.

“Are you the mom?” Stephen asks.

“I think I’m the mom,” Gabe says.

Gabe is 100% the mom. In their parenting of this sullen teenager and in his role as an A on the Canucks. He’s also totally the mom friend. He accepts this.

“You guys fucking suck at hiding your relationship,” Stephen says. “And yeah, yeah, that’s at me and Gabe’s, safe space, but it took Gabe, what, thirty seconds?”

“At least a minute,” Gabe says.

“It took Gabe fifteen seconds to figure out you guys were together the first time he met Bryce,” Stephen says.

Stephen accurately assuming Gabe is being diplomatic with this minute business.

“It’s best not to lie to the children,” Stephen says. “Santa’s not real, neither is the Easter Bunny, you two are going to get caught.”

Jared rolls his eyes.

“The hockey gods probably exist though,” Gabe says.

“Oh, absolutely,” Stephen agrees.

They 100% exist. Because this is my ‘verse and I say so.

“They don’t,” Jared mutters.

“If they didn’t you wouldn’t be on the same team as your husband,” Stephen says.

Jared cannot retort, because ‘no that’s because his agent and him did some pretty unethical shit to make it happen’.

Excellent use of brain to mouth filter here. Also it’s ‘he and his agent’. Grammar fail.

“He’s sulking, Gabriel,” Stephen says.

“Yeah, he does that,” Gabe says.

Excellent use of brain to mouth filter by Gabe not pointing out that Stephen is prone to that himself. But he's generally good at the brain to mouth filter thing.

Jared scowls out the window.

“Chin up, Math,” Gabe says. “You’re about to see your husband.”

Jared bites his lip hard so he doesn’t smile. He doesn’t think it works.

Gabe’s a good hockey mom.

“I wonder what his nickname’s going to be,” Stephen muses. “Since they’ve already got a Marksy.”

Bryce was indeed Marksy on the Flames (Marcsy?). But Gabe’s got dibs in Van.

“Probably something skill related,” Gabe says. Clearly he is uninterested in ceding the Marksy name. “Maybe military? Snipeshow, Gunner. Or something tactical if they figure out early that he’s got a killer hockey IQ.”

Jared gives into the inevitable smile.

Gabe nailing it here — Bullet it is. And a bit of a self-referential thing with the tactical names for the titles of early IJ(aoe).

Also Jared continues to be such a sucker for Bryce’s hockey IQ, and such a sucker for people that aren’t him noticing and admiring said hockey IQ.

“What’s his middle name?” Stephen asks.

“Justin,” Jared says.

“BJ?” Stephen says. “Yeah, you two keep that to yourselves.”

“No kidding,” Jared says.

“BJ,” Stephen snickers, and Jared has the sinking feeling that Stephen is exclusively going to refer to Bryce as BJ from now on.

That would be so CHILDISH, Jared. Obviously he will carefully save it for the moment that it will annoy Bryce the most, like an adult.

he fiddles around on his phone and waits, enduring a crushing hug from Dmitry Kurmazov and an even more irritating hair ruffle before Dmitry unceremoniously crashes Gabe’s interview to do the same thing to him in front of laughing reporters. Gabe endures it with much more grace than Jared. Jared supposes he’s used to it after a decade on the same team.

Gabe, getting a hug from one of his closest friends after not seeing him for months: :)

Jared: Wow, good work enduring that indignity, Gabe. I don’t know how you do it.

Jared leaves him to it, endures another hug from Dmitry — he just saw him —

Hugging Jared Matheson twice in 24 hours if you aren’t a) Bryce Marcus or b) it’s literally just Bryce Marcus but he’ll endure it from Elaine he guesses... is like petting a hissing cat. Watch your hands.

echoes Gabe’s ‘good to see you again, Bryce’ when Bryce’s introductions land in their corner.

Gabe rolls his eyes at Jared.

“What,” Jared.

Bryce: Hey guys.

Gabe: Hey, Bryce, good to see you again.

Jared: …YES. GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN.

Bryce:

Gabe:

Jared:

Bryce: Okay I’m gonna—

Gabe: Good idea.

It’s all of twenty minutes into training camp before Bryce has made a friend.

Jared eyes him.

Dmitry says something, and Bryce dissolves into giggles.

Jared’s eyes grow narrower.

“Glaring at your liney because he’s making your boy laugh is not being subtle, Math,” Gabe murmurs right into his ear.

Jared glowering in the corner, horrible visions of more Dmitry in his future in his head.

It’s off ice stuff in the morning — Coach is big on team-building, and Jared would roll his eyes but the Canucks are a close-knit team, so it seems to work —

Jared implying that he isn’t rolling his eyes anyway and that’s a lie.

Gabe elbows him again. “Math,” he says.

“Hm?” Jared says.

“Please don’t tell me that’s your handwriting over his heart,” Gabe says, low

Gabe and Stephen give Jared this whole ‘don’t get your hopes up about not getting caught’ speech and Jared neglects to inform them Bryce has a TATTOO OF HIS NAME? There will be so much kvetching to Stephen later. Over his HEART, Stephen. These boys say they don’t want to come out and then he gets his a tattoo of Jared’s name on his HEART. What is the MATTER with these kids?

It still gets to him, a low punch in the gut when he sees it, but then, it’s only been a few weeks since Bryce snuck out and got the tattoo. Would Jared have vetoed it if Bryce asked first? Absolutely. Is Jared kind of stupidly obsessed with it? Also the case.

Jared is embarrassed and horny about it.

“Don’t tell Stephen,” Jared says.

“No way Stephen doesn’t watch an interview and put two and two together,” Gabe says. “Sorry.”

If he doesn’t tell Stephen who will he complain to, Jared? Do you want Gabe to EXPLODE?

“He tattooed your name on his chest and you two think you aren’t going to be caught,” Gabe mumbles, more to himself than Jared.

Gabe continues to be in utter disbelief.

Jared gets a ride back with Gabe after training camp, starts making them dinner, because if he doesn’t start now it’s not going to happen. They got bag skated at the end of the day. Bag skating’s always hell, but at least when it’s a punishment you feel like you’re atoning for something. Bag skating at the start of training camp’s a fitness gauge, nothing more, but it still feels like a punishment.

Bag skates are getting rarer and rarer, both during the season and during training camps, but under Travis Green the Canucks were indeed bag skated every training camp. Somebody always pukes.

“My legs feel like lead,” Jared says.

“Sit, I’ll take over,” Bryce offers, and Jared takes him up on it, though he does drag the chair closer, half to keep Bryce company, half to backseat cook because he doesn’t trust him. He hasn’t earned it.

Extremely valid.

“I can’t believe he manipulated you into free babysitting within one day of meeting you,” Jared says.

To be fair, Bryce offered.

“You aren’t tired,” Jared accuses.

“I’m tired,” Bryce says.

“You don’t look tired,” Jared mutters.

Bryce kisses the top of his head.

Jared absolutely livid that Bryce isn’t tired. And Bryce remembering that training camp Jared is like an angry hedgehog.

“Went pretty well for a first day,” Bryce says.

“Shh, sleeping,” Jared mumbles.

“You’re kind of mean when you’re exhausted,” Bryce says, but like, fondly.

“Shh,” Jared repeats. “Sleeping.”

Angry hedgehogs are adorable.

“He wasn’t tired after the bag skate,” Jared says.

Gabe gives him an incredulous look.

“I know,” Jared says.

“Maybe he’s just better at pretending?” Gabe asks.

“He isn’t,” Jared says. “We hate him.”

“We absolutely hate him,” Gabe agrees.

Bryce and Dmitry are giggling about something when they get in.

Jared glares at them and then slowly gets into his gear.

ONE DAY. One day before Bryce makes an enemy in the Canucks locker room. It is his husband.

139. Proving Ground

Jared’s sure plenty of them mocked Bryce when he was the enemy, but they’re pretending butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths now that he’s their guy.

I believe this is legally required of all homers.

They’re a good group of guys. Jared may not hang out with any of them other than Gabe and sometimes Dmitry if he tags along, but that’s not an indictment of his teammates, just personal preference.

Jared hates 99.99% of people, so don’t take it personally.

It isn’t even halfway through preseason before Bryce has a buddy on every line. He sits with Gabe and Jared at meals sometimes, but just as often he’s off talking with his lineys, or laughing with the rowdy group Jared keeps his distance from, sometimes sitting with the vets, talking strategy, is even chatty with the coaching staff.

Look at Bryce Marcus making friends everywhere he goes!! He’s trying, but he’s not desperate, and that makes a big difference. As does the locker room a) not being toxic AF and b) not having particular expectations for him, other than ‘scores lots’, they hope.

Bryce, in lieu of Marksy, which belongs firmly to Gabe, becomes Bullet to the Canucks room. It’s a pretty lazy nickname — alliteration, yeah, Bryce has killer accuracy, a snapshot that comes off his stick before you can blink, skates faster than his size would indicate. Marksman with a bullet, shot like a bullet, fast like a bullet, sure. Accurate. Lazy, though.

Sounds kind of like you like it, Jared.

They need to practice him with his new line in actual game situations, and there’s no better place to see how he’s going to stack up against his former team than against said team, so Jared suspects they’re saving his first appearance against the Flames for the drama of it all.

Coaches do not use ‘the drama of it all’ as a factor for player deployment. Though they should.

Julius plays his ass off that night, a giant pain — Jared’s still going to read Bryce the riot act for cross-checking him that hard, if he injured Julius Jared’s going to be pissed

Cross-checking Jared’s friends is only acceptable after a hat trick minimum.

“I barely tapped him,” Bryce mutters.

Jared pulls his phone out.

“Okay I more than tapped him!” Bryce says, while Jared goes to twitter to find a gif as counter-evidence.

Why would you blatantly lie to Jared and not expect him to immediately pull receipts.

“You wouldn’t cross-check Chaz,” Jared says. So that just leaves Julius and Raf and like, Gabe and Stephen, and Raf’s in the East, Gabe’s his teammate, and Stephen’s a civilian now, albeit one who deserves a whack or two sometimes.

“I might,” Bryce says, but not with any sincerity. He’s too soft for this sport.

Stephen definitely deserves to be cross-checked.

Also you can’t bitch about Bryce cross-checking your friends and then call him soft for not cross-checking one of them, Jared.

The game against the North Stars is also a blowout — they’re getting on their colt legs in the rebuild, and there’s indisputably talent there, but it’s fragile. The Canucks grind that immaturity in their too-young-to-shave faces.

These aren’t our Rookie Detectives — in fact, Roman’s the only one in Minny at this point (not counting Mike). Liam’s in Detroit, Harry and Victor playing NCAA, Val in Russia, Connie in the WHL (he hasn’t even been drafted yet). But soon!

Bryce is still pouty in the morning; he stole the Eeyore cup for maximal glumness and everything.

Love that max glumness for Bryce involves Jared’s cup. What does this mean, Jared? Surely, Jared says, it’s because Eeyore’s on it, not for any other reason.

“Obviously this is so you get your first against the Flames,” Jared says. “Divine retribution and all that.”

“Fuck the Flames,” Bryce says, brightening up.

You had Bryce at ‘divine retribution’.

Hell, Bryce isn’t nervous, humming over breakfast, cheerful in a sort of bloodthirsty way, like he can’t wait to humiliate the Flames.

Divine retribution!!

Warm-ups don’t help. Bryce sticks like glue to the home end, pots shot after shot on Salazar, back firmly to the visitors’ side of the ice, posture tense. Gabe gives Jared a significant look as they’re filing back into the locker room, but Jared can’t exactly go over to Bryce and say what he wants to, do what he wants to, wrap a hand around the nape of Bryce’s clammy neck, press their foreheads together, tell him he has this. Anything that would actually help Bryce would be the sort of obvious that might get picked up on.

Jared is probably right that they wouldn’t be able to make any moral support from Jared look ‘bro’ enough, but also Bryce clearly needs it right now. So cue Gabe’s significant look.

Gabe’s the last one to get to Bryce, gets him in a headlock in the hall, and Bryce is still grumbling about it when he steps onto the ice, fully distracted as he skates over to the blue line. Jared taps Gabe’s knee on the bench, and Gabe taps his right back.

Gabe’s got his back. Both their backs.

The second seems to be more of the same. Halfway through the game they’re still knotted at 0-0, and Jared can count good chances on one hand. For both teams. Combined. At this rate it’s going to be the worst of all worlds — a goalie battle without the show-stopping saves, a physical game without the big hits, a tight fought tight defended cleanly played boring ass game.

Woo, the trap. When you want to win, but you don’t want your fans to enjoy it.

Thankfully the Canucks’ first line makes the executive decision to break the stalemate just as Jared’s wincing and trying to take that thought back, like he’s cursed the team with it

For someone who insists he’s not superstitious, Jared sure thinks about curses a lot.

Bryce gets a secondary assist on a power play goal, the start of a tic-tac-tip, and that’s all they need to win it. Bryce with a point in every goal, Bryce’s goal the game-winner, and he’s absolutely mobbed when they get off the ice, teammates with claps on the back and media impatiently waiting at the doors to mob him themselves, but not before he has to go right back out for first star of the game.

Divine retribution!!! (And a very motivated player.)

He replies to a very kindly worded demand for a celebratory dinner from Elaine when he gets back to their condo, listens to a voicemail from his dad, who enjoyed a Flames loss for the first time in his entire life, judging by the gleeful malice in his voice, is finishing up a surprisingly decent dinner from the meal service they’re trying out when the front door flies open.

It’s good that Jared recognises that Elaine being polite and friendly doesn’t make that any less of a demand. Also — friendship with Flames over, Canucks are Don’s new best friend.

“Jared!” Bryce calls, like he hasn’t seen him in days and can’t wait a minute longer. Jared can hear him taking off his shoes, mostly because they hit the wall with two thuds.

“Jared!” he says again when he sees Jared at the kitchen island. Which is like, visible from the front hall, it’s an open concept place. Jared was right there the whole time.

Jared did you see!!!!

“Shut up,” Bryce says, still very cheerful about it.

“Make me,” Jared says. It’s not a hat trick or anything, but he thinks a three point night deserves something, let alone a three point night against the Flames. That’s like hat trick level spite.

“Do I need to?” Bryce asks. “Or are you going to do it because that goal was hot as fuck?”

Finally Jared can find Bryce’s goals hot without being conflicted about that because it was against his team. Truly big for him.

“Cocky,” Jared says, but it’s not exactly a hardship. Well, a bit of one, because he can’t keep giving Bryce shit if he’s got his dick in his mouth, but Bryce did the Canucks like, a service. This is team building. Offering an incentive for good play. Building positive habits.

What, do YOU want the A, Jared?

Apparently Bryce is coasting on endorphins after a hell of a night — and who could blame him — because he doesn’t actually occupy Jared’s mouth all that long. Jared is not the only one who gets off on Bryce’s goalscoring, apparently.

“Fast as a bullet,” Jared murmurs against his hip, then, “Ow!”, because Bryce, even come dumb, is still completely capable of landing a stinging flick to his ear.

He’s such a shit that Bryce knew that was coming eventually. Bullet was prepared.

[laudthingcat]

A SFW & NSFW OPEN COLLAB!

hi everyone! I decided to host a collab as celebration for hitting another massive milestone since the last time i celebrated one was all the way back in 2021 when i hit 1k followers! (million thanks and kisses to everyone who followed me and enjoys my writing!)

the theme of this collab is losing a bet. What does that mean? Whatever you want as long as someone loses a bet! Did you make a bet with Gojo which you lost and now you have to be his personal assistant for a whole week? Or maybe Leon lost a bet and now has to make you cum using his fingers only! The possibilities are endless!

GUIDELINE

you can write for: any character from any fandom you want, be it an anime, manga exclusive or videogame character!

for the nsfw works, the characters must be canonically 18+ or aged up to 18+

in order to participate, you must be 18+ with an age indicator in your bio or a pinned post

dark content is accepted as long as the work is tagged properly and the content is placed under the 'read more' option

to join, send me an ask for the character and fandom you’ll be writing for

the same character can be picked as many times as needed since i am sure the stories are going to be unique even so

the collab is open for art entries too!

any format and any length is accepted

when you post your work, please tag me or send me a dm so i can link it to the masterlist!

there is no due date for this collab so the entries can be sent whenever you are ready! I want this to be a fun and relaxing collab where you don't have to stress over the date since i myself struggled with that before (i still live in shame gdvh). You can work on it at your own pace! I'm so excited to see what ideas you all come up with :D

MASTERLIST BELOW

─ JUJUTSU KAISEN

@laudthingcat | sukuna x reader | nsfw

@aztecbrujeria | toji x reader | nsfw

(Financial) Auditing. | suguru x black reader | nsfw - @nutheadgeenat

@cu7ie | toji x reader (ft. choso, geto & gojo) | nsfw

─ TOKYO REVENGERS

Luck of the draw | hanma x black reader | nsfw - @preciousamethyst

─ HONKAI: STAR RAIL

@villainology | sampo koski x reader | nsfw

─ RESIDENT EVIL

@laudthingcat | leon x reader | nsfw

─ DEAD BY DAYLIGHT

@laudthingcat | danny “jed olsen” johnson x reader | nsfw

─ ATTACK ON TITAN

@buerriberry | eren yeager x reader | nsfw

header art credit goes to Dmitry Sorokin!

[sumn-somethin]

Parallel and contrast (spoilers for episode 5)

I am blown away by the scenes in episodes 1 and 5 that are parallel to each other but have contrasting themes.

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

Possession

Saving Dmitry vs hurting him

On episode 1, Olezha possessed Dima's body in an attempt to save his life. But on episode 5, he contorts his body and manipulates his vision to try to stop him from talking to Olya.

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

Damaging the notebook

strangers' selfishness vs sibling's love

Dima's classmates wanted to get their hands on the rumored notebook and tore most of the pages. Later, Olya tore apart the notebook as a way of accepting her brother's death.

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

Going outside

accidentally vs intentionally

When Dima took the notebook in episode 1, Olezha was accidentally brought outside. But in episode 5, Dima intended to bring him outside to the concert to try to bring him back.

[c-is-for-circinate]

I would love to hear more mike wheeler - Steve Harrington masculinity thoughts (also whatever happened to Hopper to make him action guy my beloathed)! Also will we get a mike chapter for and they were married?

Okay yes! I am fascinated by Mike and Steve as narrative contrasts, and I always find myself looking for fic where the two of them meaningfully interact, and I keep meaning to write about them.

(Also: Mike deserves his own chapter of that fic, but he's getting folded into Dustin's. What Mike really deserves is his own fic that takes place in that universe, because I know what his deal is there and it's a doozy, but that is a very different post.)

Anyway! For starters, I don't think that Steve and Mike are intentionally meant to be foils. There's an element of it in the first season, where Steve exists to support Nancy's character, and Nancy and Mike are meant to be foils -- Steve is the Popular Kid, the antithesis of Mike and his friends' little group of nerds, he and Tommy and Carol are written into the same category as Troy but older and less actively murderous, and the fact that Nancy's dating him says things about her -- but they end up occupying oddly similar spaces and cool parallels come out of that anyway.

A core thing about it is that Steve and Mike are both the guy in their respective age group casts on the show. The Guy. The central one, the normal one, the presumed-to-be-straight one -- and yes, this is fandom and we have Opinions about that, but the Duffer brothers think they're both straight, and that matters here. They're white, they're able-bodied, they have money. They are, in a sense, normal.

Narratively, they very often act as central/POV character for scenes they're in, at least once Steve gets past the fistfight in S1 and awakens to the fact that he's a person who can make decisions. And that makes sense, because being The Guy also means they're the closest to the classic TV protagonist archetype, the guy who does the hero shit and gets the girl in the end. Hopper is also The Guy, and always has been: in S1 it's just him and Joyce, but even as we add more adults, the only real challenge to his The Guy status is Bob (which is of course why Bob had to die). Murray is a bizarre conspiracy nut, and queer-coded besides that. Owens is an affable bad guy. Alexei and Dmitri and Yuri are all Russian.

Being The Guy comes with a certain amount of baggage. All three of them have to be romantic leads, and have to be crossed in love about it. All three of them are protectors in one way or another. And all three of them are on occasion assholes who have one hell of a time with sincerity and affection.

And this is where we get into Toxic Masculinity, because again, while I don't think the Duffers intended a pile of parallels between these three guys, well. Firstly, The Guy as an archetype is built on a pile of toxic masculine stereotypes, so that's often there to begin with. Secondly, it's the same writers, so certain themes rhyme whether they're intended to or not.

In particular, one of the core tenets of toxic masculinity, not just in ST but as a thing in the world, is when and where it's acceptable to experience soft emotions of affection, care, and vulnerability. The first rule of toxic masculinity is don't. The second rule, the caveat rule, is a little asterisk saying 'except, occasionally, with a female romantic partner, if you absolutely must.'

And so we actually see a lot of unfolding of this in Steve! One thing we know about Steve, without precisely being told, is that he's deeply lonely -- for a popular kid he sure seems to only have two Actual Friends when the show starts and they hardly seem to even like each other. He has a new Favorite Person every season, and he clings to them with the joy of a devoted golden retriever. His mental image of happily-ever-after is a house full of kids with enough siblings to never get lonely, family vacations about close quarters and spending time together. We never see his parents. For all a lot of the 'horrible abuse' fanon is very much fanon, Steve is inarguably a lonely kid. And where do we see him reaching out for affection?

It's not Tommy and Carol, although until they break up he's constantly in their company unless he's alone with Nancy. They hardly even seem to like each other very much, and yet they've stayed at his empty house enough for Tommy to know about his mother's fireplace and Steve to insist he do laundry while he's here. No, the person who Steve is allowed to feel things with and for is Nancy, because she's the caveat, she's the exception. This is why Steve is consistently focused on getting Nancy back, getting a new girlfriend, getting a date. That's the rule!!!

The really fabulous thing about Steve's arc across the first three seasons, and even into S4, is that this quest for romantic affection and vulnerability is both thwarted and rewarded again and again. He tries to apologize to Nancy, to win her back: by the time he sees her again, Nancy's got a new boyfriend, but Steve has a new brother. Dustin is Steve's favorite person by the start of S3; he gets Steve's haircare secrets, he gets Steve's loyalty, he gets Steve's joy. In S3, Steve tries to pour his whole heart into a different girlfriend, and Robin turns him down flat while also simultaneously opening herself up with such vulnerability that they instantly become best friends. Robin is S4's Favorite Person, but the great thing about these relationships being platonic is that Steve gets to have more than one! He gets to have both Dustin and Robin in his life! He gets the other kids as part of the package! Bit by bit, instead of a girlfriend who Steve is "allowed" to be soft with, Steve gains actual friends who he gets to be real with whether it's allowed or not.

And the really tragic thing about Mike Wheeler is that he's doing the opposite. Mike starts out with three friends, three best friends, absolutely devoted to one another. As kids, they're young enough to be free of most of the stranglehold of toxic masculinity yet, although of course it's starting. And then there's El.

Mike charts a really interesting course over four seasons, and the shape of it is not a straight trajectory from 'Mike adores and is BFF with Will' to 'Mike thinks only about El.' Hell, from what we see of S1, the Party are all best friends pretty equally before Will goes missing -- Lucas is the one ready to break into a government lab for him, not Mike. Mike's trajectory is far more 'I derive the bulk of my personal self-worth from protecting other people, and as soon as somebody needs to be saved I go fully into Paladin Mode, making me feel worthwhile and important." It just so happens that the two people in Mike's field of vision who most generally need protection and saving are Will and El. Which leads to Mike's intense Will-focused devotion in S2 (El is gone but Will is also in really significant need, and Mike just straight-up activates, jumping immediately into solicitously taking care of his friend because Something Needs Doing And I Can Do It). And Mike's intense El-focused devotion in S4, where El needs a literal quest to come and rescue her. And just a lot of Mike in general.

The problem with all of that is the part where, unlike Steve who keeps forging new platonic relationships, Mike keeps neglecting his more and more. The S3 Will fight is so good at illustrating that, because look -- we all know Will has a crush on Mike, but at no point during that fight does Will ask, even subtextually, for romantic attention. He's asking for platonic attention, which Mike is absolutely failing to give. "Where's Dustin right now? You don't know, and you don't even care." But as Mike says, they're not kids any more -- and this is how growing up is supposed to work!

(Note: I don't want to say that it's toxic for Mike to be in love with El, or really caught up in that relationship -- he's fourteen! she's his first girlfriend! he thought she was dead! But Mike's an asshole in S3 because he's caught up enough to not notice his friend's feelings until they explode at him, and yeah, I do think part of that is because he knows he's Not Supposed To.)

S4 is a lot, because here's where we're really seeing the culmination of a lot of what Mike's been unfortunately moving towards. We've hit a point where those vulnerable feelings that Mike's allowed to share, at most, with his girlfriend, feel like too much to even share with his girlfriend. He can't say 'I love you'. He can't even talk to Will. The conversation he does have with Will is honestly mostly about Mike and his feelings of inadequacy, of not measuring up, not being special, but it has to be couched in the context of El. If there's a reverse-Bechdel test to be done on S4, past the very first episode I'm pretty sure Mike fails it -- I don't think he has a single conversation that isn't about his girlfriend in one capacity or another.

In contrast, S4 Steve is, yes, pretty focused on girls-in-general and Nancy-in-specific, and yeah, there's a little bit of backsliding going on there. But he's also having conversations with Robin about her fears and longings, having weird little interludes where Eddie's the one bringing up Nancy rather than Steve himself. He's hurt at the end when Nancy is clearly still with Jonathan, but he's able to move on, to go fold clothes and care about Robin's love life instead of his own -- his optimistic happy ending in S4 is that his best friend is going to get the girl, not him.

I think there's a lot more to say, which I only brushed on briefly here, about other aspects of Mike and Steve that work in parallel or contrast -- their protector thing, which feels very intrinsic but shows up very differently in both of them, the way Steve says 'I love you' so easily and Mike has trouble saying it at all, the way they are both very much extremely normal guys, at least on paper. There's so much to say. I think that has to be a different post.

I will say, in terms of Hopper: Jim Hopper is what it looks like when those pent-up feelings that you aren't allowed to express to anybody other than a romantic partner sit and fester for decades. Fuck, there were things about Vietnam he didn't even tell his wife, that sat like poison both emotional and biological between them. When we meet him in S1, he's processing grief with drugs and drinking and processing fear with rage. He has spent so much of the past four seasons processing fear as rage.

Of course Joyce is the one person he's allowed to, sometimes, on occasion, be soft with. Of course nearly his every interaction with Mike is macho dominance posturing. Of course the entire trajectory of his relationship with El is a push-pull of Hopper retreating into authoritarianism and anger instead of the terror of honesty, and then getting to see the consequences of that when his daughter pulls away. Every season has broken him down a little more that way, but then the yo-yo pulls back (Season 3 whyyyyyyyyy). By Season 4, he's been beaten and starved and frozen and shattered enough that we get maybe the most honest monologue of his life, to a Russian prison guard, because they're about to die so what do the rules matter any more. It's a clear window into an endless pit of self-loathing, because for twenty or thirty years Hopper's been letting those feelings eat in instead of out, and bit by bit they've been devouring him.

El is hope, for him, and Joyce is hope, and the cracks that broke open in Kamchatka to maybe let in a little more air that might not seal right back up again are hope. But it's hard. It's hard! It makes him an absolute asshole, including and especially towards the people he wants most to protect. (And there's that protector thing again.)

Anyway, I am on the record as liking Steve a lot and having very little patience for Mike and Hopper, but like. They're not that different, at their core. They just put the pieces together in a different order.